Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Marie Peddycoart, Carrie Ferguson and Amanda Martin, 13-year-old students at Deer Creek Middle School, watch the ground drop from beneath them as pilot John Lakkman hits the gas."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Danielle Campofreda steadies Reece's Domino Joe and his doggie rider Doodles in preparation for a performance at the American Miniature Horse Association National championship Show at the state fairgrounds."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Charles Henderson, who fought off Viet Cong attackers after being shot in the leg in 1967, says he no longer is proud of his Purple heart and Bronze Star medals for bravery."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Edmond's Jason Jefferis shows the effects of Friday night's weather."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "It's up, up, and away for Deer Creek eighth-grader science students participating in the school's outdoor education program."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Oklahoma Turnpike Authority and Oklahoma City officials cut the ribbon Friday morning to open the first bridge completed over the John Kilpatrick Turnpike."

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company.

Ratings for Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) transmission lines are based upon the IEEE Standard for Calculation of Bare Overhead Conductor Temperatures and Ampacity under Steady-State Conditions (1985). This steady-state model is very sensitive to the ambient weather conditions of temperature and wind speed. The model does not account for wind yaw, turbulence, or conductor roughness as proposed by Davis (1976) for a real time rating system. The objective of this research has been to determine (1) how conservative the present rating system is for typical ambient weather conditions, (2) develop a probability-based methodology, (3) compile available weather data into a compatible format, and (4) apply the rating methodology to a hypothetical line. The potential benefit from this research is to rate transmission lines statistically which will allow BPA to take advantage of any unknown thermal capacity. The present deterministic weather model is conservative overall and studies suggest a refined model will uncover additional unknown capacity. 14 refs., 40 figs., 7 tabs.

A program to characterize the geochemical and physical properties of the unimpacted soils and shallow sediments at the Savannah River Site (SRS) has been completed. The maximum, minimum, median, standard deviation, and mean values for metals, radionuclides, inorganic anions, organic compounds, and agricultural indicator parameters are summarized for six soil series that were identified as representative of the 29 soil series at SRS. The soils from unimpacted areas of SRS are typical of soils found in moderately aggressive weathering environments, including the southeastern United States. Appendix 8 organic compounds were detected in all samples. Since these constituents are not generally present in soil, this portion of the investigation was intended to assess possible laboratory artifacts. An additional objective of the SRS Soil Study was to determine if the composition of the split spoon sampler biased chemical analysis of the soils. Twenty-five duplicate samples were analyzed for a number of metals, radiological and agricultural parameters, and organics by two laboratories currently contracted with to analyze samples during waste site characterization. In all cases, the absolute values of the average differences are relatively small compared to the overall variability in the population. 31 refs., 14 figs., 48 tabs.

Measurements of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant's nuclear criticality accident radiation alarm signal response time, sound wave frequency, and sound volume levels were made to demonstrate compliance with ANSI/ANS-8.3-1986. A steady-state alarm signal is produced within one-half second of obtaining a two-out-of-three detector trip. The fundamental alarm sound wave frequency is 440 hertz. The sound volume levels are greater than 10 decibels above background and ranged from 100 to 125 A-weighted decibels. The requirements of the standard were met; however the recommended maximum sound volume level of 115 dBA was exceeded. Emergency procedures require immediate evacuation upon initiation of a facility's radiation alarm. Comparison with standards for allowable time of exposure at different noise levels indicate that the elevated noise level at this location does not represent an occupational injury hazard. 8 refs., 5 figs.

The overall objective of this project is to provide the utility industry with a PC expert system to confidently and inexpensively evaluate the potential for coal cleaning, blending, and switching options to reduce emissions while producing lowest cost electricity. Specifically, this project will: (1) Enhance the existing Coal Quality Information System database and Coal Quality Impact Model to allow confident assessment of the effects of cleaning on specific power plant costs and performance. (2) Develop and validate a methodology, Coal Quality Expert, which allows accurate and detailed predictions of coal quality impacts on total power plant capital cost, operating cost, and performance based upon inputs from inexpensive bench-scale tests.

A gas phase and a slurry phase radioactive tracer study was performed on the 12 ton/day Liquid Phase Methanol (LPMEOH) Process Development Unit (PDU) in LaPorte, Texas. To study the gas phase mixing characteristics, a radioactive argon tracer was injected into the feed gas and residence time distribution was generated by measuring the response at the reactor outlet. Radioactive manganese oxide powder was independently injected into the reactor to measure the slurry phase mixing characteristics. A tanks-in-series model and an axial dispersion model were applied to the data to characterize the mixing in the reactor. From the axial dispersion model, a translation to the number of CSTR's (continuous stirred tank reactors) was made for comparison purposes with the first analysis. Dispersion correlations currently available in the literature were also compared. The tanks-in-series analysis is a simpler model whose results are easily interpreted. However, it does have a few drawbacks; among them, the lack of a reliable method for scaleup of a reactor and no direct correlation between mixing in the slurry and gas phases. The dispersion model allows the mixing in the gas and slurry phases to be characterized separately while including the effects of phase transfer. This analysis offers …

A new, pulse-timing discriminator and B-scan time-to-pulse-height converter have been developed for the inspection of production parts. The discriminator is easy to operate and features automatic echo gating and automatic pulse polarity discrimination. This instrument combines the noise-blanking advantages of threshold discrimination with the echo-timing precision of zero-crossing discrimination to improve measurement accuracy by a factor of two over the best precious techniques. When used with the discriminator, the B-scan unit allows detection of flaws at depths less than one-fourth those obtainable with commercially available instruments. 3 refs., 20 figs., 2 tabs.

Accessibility is today's space frontier. Our need for wide-band global communications, earth imaging an sensing, atmospheric measurements and military reconnaissance is endless but growing dependence on space-based systems raises concerns about potential vulnerability. Military commanders want space assets more accessible and under direct local control. As a result, a robust and low cost access to space-like capability has become a national priority. Buoyant vehicles, free floating in the middle stratosphere could provide the kind of cost effective access to space-like capability needed for a verity of missions. These vehicles are inexpensive, invisible and easily launched. Developments in payload electronics, atmospheric wind modeling and materials combined with ever-improving communications and navigation infrastructure are making balloon-borne concepts more attractive. The fundamental question is whether a free floating balloon, used in a pseudo-satellite role, has value in a military system. Flight tests are ongoing under NASA sponsorship. Following these tests NASA intends to use the vehicles for research in the Antarctic. The concept is being reviewed by other agencies interested in stratospheric research. We believe that LDFFF systems have applications in areas of communications, surveillance and other traditional satellite missions. Dialogue with the broader community of space users is needed to expand the …

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.

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, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the Texas Department of Health is required to inspect and license as a personal care home a boarding facility registered by the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and related questions (RQ-1974)

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, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a commissioners court may prescribe a prevailing wage for certain contracts, and related questions (RQ-1977)

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, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification.

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Midwest City police Lt. Bob Osmond examines the two pounds of rock cocaine and cash confiscated in a raid Friday."

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story. This story aired at 10pm.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story. This story aired at 10pm.

B-roll video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

B-roll video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story. This story aired at 6pm.