A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the nature and extent of workplace conflicts that underlie the rising number of discrimination cases, focusing on: (1) the statutory bases (e.g., race, sex, or disability discrimination) under which employees filed complaints; (2) the kinds of issues (e.g., nonselection for promotion, harassment) that were cited in these complaints; and (3) why the data collected and reported by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) were not helpful in answering the questions raised."

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) Medicare subvention demonstration program, focusing on: (1) the early phases of implementing the DOD demonstration; (2) issues raised by that experience for DOD subvention; and (3) lessons from the DOD demonstration for a possible Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) demonstration."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) new rule on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. GAO noted that: (1) the rule contains key provisions of the new welfare block grant program enacted in 1996 by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and the TANF program; (2) this program replaces the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program and the related programs known as the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program and the Emergency Assistance program; and (3) ACF complied with the applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the status of financial management at the Department of Defense (DOD), focusing on: (1) DOD's most serious financial management weaknesses; (2) the resulting impact on DOD's ability to effectively carry out its programs and operations; and (3) DOD's efforts to address these deficiencies."

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether Texas may implement a Grant Application Revenue Vehicle program in the absence of a constitutional amendment (RQ-0048-JC)

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Use of annual leave by employees receiving workers' compensation benefits (RQ-888)

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether Section 141.065 of the Human Resources Code prohibits a peace offer from simultaneously serving as a juvenile probation officer (RQ-1224)

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a prosecutor may defer prosecution of a violation of the law contingent upon the offender's donation of money to a governmental or nonprofit organization, and related questions (RQ-1056)

Semiweekly newspaper from Boerne, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

A letter from Nancy Berry to Marge Desiderato about payment for printing out reports.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Emory, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The Tank Waste Remediation System Operation and Utilization Plan updates the operating scenario and plans for the delivery of feed to BNFL Inc., retrieval of waste from single-shell tanks, and the overall process flowsheets for Phases I and II of the privatization of the Tank Waste Remediation System. The plans and flowsheets are updated with the most recent tank-by-tank inventory and sludge washing data. Sensitivity cases were run to evaluate the impact or benefits of proposed changes to the BNFL Inc. contract and to evaluate a risk-based SST retrieval strategy.

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The International Petroleum Statistics Report presents data on international oil production, demand, imports, and stocks. The report has four sections. Section 1 contains time series data on world oil production, and on oil demand and stocks in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This section contains annual data beginning in 1985, and monthly data for the most recent two years. Section 2 presents an oil supply/demand balance fore the world. This balance is presented in quarterly intervals for the most recent two years. Section 3 presents data on oil imports by OECD countries. This section contains annual data for the most recent year, quarterly data for the most recent two quarters, and monthly data for the most recent twelve months. Section 4 presents annual time series data on world oil production and oil stocks, demand, and trade in OECD countries. World oil production and OECD demand data are for the years 1970 through 1997; OECD stocks from 1973 through 1997; and OECD trade from 1987 through 1997. 4 figs., 48 tabs.

We have used femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy to time resolve the injection of electrons into nanocrystalline TiO2 film electrodes under ambient conditions following photoexcitation of the adsorbed dye, [Ru(4,4'-dicarboxy-2,2'-bipyridine)2(NCS)2] (N3). Pumping at one of the metal-to-ligand charge transfer adsorption peaks and probing the absorption of electrons injected into the TiO2 conduction band at 1.52 {micro}m and in the range of 4.1 to 7.0 {micro}m, we have directly observed the arrival of the injected electrons. Our measurements indicate an instrument-limited {approx}50-fs upper limit on the electron injection time under ambient conditions in air. We have compared the infrared transient absorption for noninjecting (blank) systems consisting of N3 in ethanol and N3 adsorbed to films of nanocrystalline Al2O3 and ZrO2, and found no indication of electron injection at probe wavelengths in the mid-IR (4.1 to 7.0 {micro}m). At 1.52 {micro}m interferences exist in the observed transient adsorption signal for the blanks.

Chip design in submicron processes will present new challenges and problems which were not present in designs with larger dimension processes. One effect in the newer processes is the field oxide thickness variation due to interconnect density variations. This effect becomes much more extreme for the smaller dimension processes. Large density discontinuities can cause lower yield and will also result in capacitor value mismatch over substantial distances from the edges of a large array when using poly/metal capacitors. If good matching in this type of large area capacitor array is required, the only way to achieve this is to guarantee nearly constant metal/ poly density for at least 1500 microns (this distance will likely depend on the process) around the edges of the array. If the array boundary is close to the chip edge, then dummy capacitors should be placed up to the chip edge, and another layout with similar density must be placed as close as possible to the relevant edges of the chip in the reticle. When using a standard MOSIS reticle size, this may entail placing dummy chip layouts around the chips of interest in order to guarantee that identical density exists for the required distance outside …

This report describes work performed during this subcontract by the University of California. The photoconductivity, lifetime, and drift mobility of intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H), and hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H) were determined using a photomixing technique in the as prepared and light-soaked states. In addition to the decay of the photoconductivity and electron lifetime, continuous decay of the electron drift mobility was found during the light-soaking process (Staebler-Wronski effect). Experimental data were fitted to a stretched exponential law. Different stretched-exponential parameters for photoconductivity, lifetime, and drift mobility were obtained, which indicates the production of defects with different generation kinetics upon light soaking. The transport properties of intrinsic a-Si:H samples (which were produced by the hot-wire technique at NREL at different substrate temperatures such that the hydrogen content ranged from >10% to <1%), were systematically studied. It was found that with increasing substrate temperature, the lifetime, the drift mobility, and the photoconductivity decreased, but the Urbach energy ({approx} 0.1 eV below the conduction band) increased. These results indicate that for the a-Si:H films with increasing deposition temperature, the density of positively charged, negatively charged, and neutral defects all show a tendency to increase, in agreement …

This paper is divided into two major parts: the theory of how the autozero box is used to suppress the revolution lines and the theory of how the transverse tune is measured. We will show that the autozero box will be unable to suppress all the revolution lines if there are relative phase errors between the plates of the stripline pickup and these unsuppressed lines will determine the minimum dynamic range needed for tune measurement. For tune measurement, we will show that the theoretical size of the tune line for a 1 V potential difference across the kickers would require a 16-bit analogue to digital converter.

Many hazardous material handling needs exist in remote unstructured environments. Currently these operations are accomplished using personnel in direct contact with the hazards. A safe and cost effective alternative to this approach is the use of intelligent robotic systems for safe handling, packaging, transport, and even excavation of hazardous materials. The Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center of Sandia National Laboratories has developed and deployed robotic technologies for use in hazardous environments, three of which have been deployed in DOE production facilities for handling of special nuclear materials. Other systems are currently under development for packaging special nuclear materials. This paper presents an overview of the research activities, including five delivered systems, at %ndia National Laboratories on the use of robotics in hazardous environments.

This paper summarizes the current status of the treatment of human reliability in fire risk analyses for nuclear power plants and identifies areas that need to be addressed. A new approach is suggested to improve the modeling.

Thermal instabilities were identified in SONY-type lithium-ion cells and correlated with interactions of cell constituents and reaction products. Three temperature regions of interaction were identified and associated with the state of charge (degree of Li intercalation) of the cell. Anodes were shown to undergo exothermic reactions as low as 100°C involving the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer and the LiPF₆ salt in the electrolyte (EC: PC: DEC/LiPF₆). These reactions could account for the thermal runaway observed in these cells beginning at 100°C. Exothermic reactions were also observed in the 200°C-300°C region between the intercalated lithium anodes, the LiPF₆ salt and the PVDF. These reactions were followed by a high- temperature reaction region, 300°C-400°C, also involving the PVDF binder and the intercalated lithium anodes. The solvent was not directly involved in these reactions but served as a moderator and transport medhun. Cathode exotherrnic reactions with the PVDF binder were observed above 200oC and increased with the state of charge (decreasing Li content). This offers an explanation for the observed lower thermal runaway temperatures for charged cells.