An annual appropriations act generally consists of two parts – paragraphs providing funding, and general provisions focusing on non-funding as well as funding issues. Discussed on this brief fact sheet are what is found in general provisions of appropriations bills.

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Customs Service's software development maturity and improvement activities, focusing on: (1) the maturity of Customs' software development processes; and (2) whether Customs has an effective software process improvement program."

An annual appropriations act is generally made up of separate paragraphs, each of which provides funding for specific agencies and programs. Generally, each paragraph corresponds to a unique account and provides appropriations for multiple projects and purposes as a single lump sum. Earmarks and limitations are two devices regularly used in annual appropriations acts to restrict, or more precisely direct, the availability of funds for specific projects or purposes of an account. Sometimes an earmark or a limitation may generate more interest or controversy than the total appropriation.

This environmental assessment was prepared to assess potential environmental impacts associated with the proposed action to widen and operate unused Trench 36 in the 218-E-12B Low-Level Burial Ground for disposal of low-level waste. Information contained herein will be used by the Manager, U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, to determine if the Proposed Action is a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. If the Proposed Action is determined to be major and significant, an environmental impact statement will be prepared. If the Proposed Action is determined not to be major and significant, a Finding of No Significant Impact will be issued and the action may proceed. Criteria used to evaluate significance can be found in Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations 1508.27. This environmental assessment was prepared in compliance with the ''National Environmental Policy Act of1969'', as amended, the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of ''National Environmental Policy Act'' (Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations 1500-1508), and the U.S. Department of Energy Implementing Procedures for ''National Environmental Polio Act'' (Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations 1021). The following is a description of each section of this environmental assessment. (1) …

The Kinetic Tandem fusion plasma confinement concept is a member of the class of open magnetic confinement systems whose magnetic topology is that of a tube of magnetic flux open at both ends. In open-ended systems the central problem is that of limiting the rate of plasma losses out the ends. In a conventional tandem mirror system end-plugging is accomplished by the generation of positive potential barriers within special short mirror cells located at each end of a long central confinement cell. The kinetic tandem concept accomplishes the same end result by employing dynamic effects, but without the necessity of special end cells. The field employed in the kinetic tandem is a simple axially symmetric solenoidal field whose intensity tapers to low values at the ends. Since the field line curvature is everywhere positive such a field is stabilizing for MHD interchange modes. Into each end are injected ion beams that are aimed nearly parallel to the field line direction. The ions from these beams then are radially compressed, stopped, and reflected back by magnetic mirror action in climbing up the magnetic gradient. In this way ion density peaks are formed between which the plasma is to be confined. As …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Sawtooth National Recreation Area's (SNRA) funding, its accomplishments and unmet needs, and on agency actions that have adverse impacts on the area, focusing on: (1) the funds allocated to the SNRA for fiscal years 1993 through 1997; (2) spending for fiscal years 1993 through 1997 to enhance recreation, to preserve conservation values, such as fish and wildlife, and to manage commodity programs, such as grazing, and the accomplishments and unmet needs in these areas; (3) the funds not allocated or the funds allocated and then taken back from the Recreation Area for fiscal years 1993 through 1997 and what was done with those funds; and (4) some examples of potentially adverse effects of how the Recreation Area is managed on individuals, companies, and communities economically dependent on the area."

The purpose of this LDRD was the study of parametric instabilities on a laser-produced plasma, addressing crucial issues affecting the coupling between the laser and the plasma. We have made very good progress during these three years, in advancing our understanding in many different fronts. Progress was made in both theoretical and experimental areas. The coupling of high-power laser light to a plasma through scattering instabilities is still one of the most complex processes in laser-plasma interaction physics. In spite of the relevance of these parametric processes to inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and all other situations where a high-power laser beam couples to a plasma, many aspects of the interaction remain unexplained, even after many years of intensive experimental and theoretical efforts. Important instabilities under study are stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), and the Langmuir decay instability (LDI). The study of these instabilities is further complicated by the competition and interplay between them, and, in the case of ICF, by the presence of multiple overlapping interaction beams. Stimulated Brillouin scattering consists of the decay of the incident electromagnetic (EM) wave into a scattered EM wave and an ion acoustic wave (IAW). Similarly, SRS consists of the decay …

This manual provides instructions for using the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) risk analysis and decision making software (1997 version) developed at BDM Petroleum Technologies by BDM-Oklahoma, Inc. for DOE, under contract No. DE-AC22-94PC91OO8. This software provides petroleum producers with a simple, handy tool for exploration and production risk analysis and decision-making. It collects useful risk analysis tools in one package so that users do not have to use several programs separately. The software is simple to use, but still provides many functions. The 1997 version of the software package includes the following tools: (1) Investment risk (Gambler's ruin) analysis; (2) Monte Carlo simulation; (3) Best fit for distribution functions; (4) Sample and rank correlation; (5) Enhanced oil recovery method screening; and (6) artificial neural network. This software package is subject to change. Suggestions and comments from users are welcome and will be considered for future modifications and enhancements of the software. Please check the opening screen of the software for the current contact information. In the future, more tools will be added to this software package. This manual includes instructions on how to use the software but does not attempt to fully explain the theory and algorithms used to …