Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO addressed congressional concerns regarding the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), focusing on: (1) the management challenges facing the Department of Commerce in its administration of NOAA; (2) whether GAO reviewed the latest available studies of NOAA's fleet and modernization efforts or NOAA's fisheries research acquisition plan; (3) whether GAO examined the cost efficiency or effectiveness of NOAA's ships or compared the costs of NOAA's ships with those of private or other available ships; (4) whether GAO reviewed NOAA's fisheries research ship replacement plans; (5) why replacing the NOAA fleet is entwined with the issue of the NOAA Corps; and (6) whether GAO reviewed NOAA's downsizing of the NOAA Corps."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the outcome of the 1996 World Food Summit, focusing on factors that could affect progress toward meeting world food security goals."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on how states implement the federal requirement that establishes a process for nursing home complaint investigations, focusing on the: (1) effectiveness of state complaint investigation practices as a component of the system to ensure sustained compliance with federal nursing home quality-of-care standards; and (2) Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) role in establishing standards and conducting oversight of states' complaint investigation practices and in using information about the results of complaint investigations to ensure compliance with nursing home standards."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed Internet securities fraud and regulatory efforts to combat this growing problem, focusing on: (1) information about the incidence and types of securities frauds perpetrated over the Internet; (2) the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) initiatives to combat Internet securities fraud; (3) information on the penalties that have been imposed on individuals found to have committed Internet securities frauds; (4) information from state securities regulators about state efforts to control Internet securities fraud; and (5) potential challenges facing SEC and state regulatory initiatives in combating securities fraud over the Internet."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the effectiveness of complaint and enforcement practices to protect nursing home residents, and to ensure that homes participating in Medicare and Medicaid comply with federal standards, focusing on the: (1) effectiveness of states' complaint practices in protecting residents; (2) Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) role in establishing standards and conducting oversight of states' complaint practices and in using information about the results of complaint investigations to ensure compliance with nursing home standards; and (3) assessment of HCFA's use of sanction authority for homes that failed to maintain compliance with these standards."

A 'proof-of-principle' Nb{sub 3}Sn superconducting dual-bore dipole magnet was built from racetrack coils, as a first step in a program to develop an economical, 15 Tesla, accelerator-quality magnet. The mechanical design and magnet fabrication procedures are discussed. No training was required to achieve temperature-dependent plateau currents, despite several thermal cycles that involved partial magnet disassembly and substantial pre-load variations. Subsequent magnets are expected to approach 15 Tesla with substantially improved conductor.

Course woody debris may be an important resource for many small mammals by providing protection and food sources. The author tracked cotton mice movements via radiotelemetry and powder in managed loblolly pine forests. Most day refuges for mice were associated with debris, including rotting stumps (69%), upturned root boles (14%) and under fallen logs (9%). Stumps used were more larger and more highly decomposed. Night time telemetry indicated that mice movements were more closely associated with the logs. Rooting stumps are an important resource for cotton mice.

The objective of this project is the development of methods for the measurement, prediction and modeling of the liberation characteristics of mineral matter and pyrite from coal, and to implement these findings in viable computer-simulation systems for coal cleaning plants. The central thrust of the project will be based on using the Andrews-Mika diagram as a convenient and experimentally verifiable model for the liberation characteristics of the constituents of coal during comminution. In order to establish the Andrews-Mika diagram, it is necessary to develop efficient techniques for density fractionation and for the measurement of the liberation spectrum in products obtained from the comminution of narrow composition fractions of coal. Dense-liquid techniques are used to produce fractionated samples, and image-analysis techniques, using linear-intercept analysis, are used to measure the liberation spectrum. The prediction of the liberation of mineral matter and pyrite from coal after comminution is based on a linear stochastic model for the description of the mineralogical texture and the random fracture pattern associated with the comminution process. Stereological correction of the distribution of linear grades is required for both the measurement and prediction of the true distribution of volumetric grades in the particle population.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the effect of scab and vomitoxin on North Dakota barley crops, focusing on: (1) the financial impact from scab and vomitoxin on barley farmers; (2) the performance of vomitoxin test methods; and (3) short- and long-term actions that could help reduce the impact of scab and vomitoxin on North Dakota barley farmers."

It is commonly thought that small couplings in a low-energy theory, such as those needed for the fermion mass hierarchy or proton stability, must originate from symmetries in a high-energy theory. We show that this expectation is violated in theories where the Standard Model fields are confined to a thick wall in extra dimensions, with the fermions ''stuck'' at different points in the wall. Couplings between them are then suppressed due to the exponentially small overlaps of their wave functions. This provides a framework for understanding both the fermion mass hierarchy and proton stability without imposing symmetries, but rather in terms of higher dimensional geography. A model independent prediction of this scenario is non-universal couplings of the Standard Model fermions to the ''Kaluza-Klein'' excitations of the gauge fields. This allows a measurement of the fermion locations in the extra dimensions at the LHC or NLC if the wall thickness is close to the TeV scale.

Environmental impacts from electron accelerator operations at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, which is located near populated areas, are illustrated by using examples of three different accelerator facilities: the low power (a few watts) SSRL, the high power (a few kilowatts) PEP-II, and the 50-kW SLC. Three types of major impacts are discussed: (1) off-site doses from skyshine radiation, mainly neutrons, (2) off-site doses from radioactive air emission, mainly {sup 13}N, and (3) radioactivities, mainly {sup 3}H, produced in the groundwater. It was found that, from SSRL operation, the skyshine radiation result in a MEI (Maximum Exposed Individual) of 0.3 {mu}Sv/y while a conservative calculation using CAP88 showed a MEI of 0.36 {mu}Sv/y from radioactive air releases. The calculated MEI doses due to future PEP-II operation are 30 {mu}Sv/y from skyshine radiation and 2 {mu}Sv/y from air releases. The population doses due to radioactive air emission are 0.5 person-mSv from SSRL and 12 person-mSv from PEP-II. Because of the stronger decrease of skyshine dose as the distance increases, the population dose from skyshine radiation are smaller than that from air release. The third environmental impact, tritium activity produced in the groundwater, was also demonstrated to be acceptable from both the …

A major improvement in the performance of the SLC was achieved with the introduction of thin strained-layer semiconductor crystals. After some optimization, polarizations of 75-85% became standard with lifetimes that were equal to or better than that of thick unstrained crystals. Other accelerators of polarized electrons, generally operating with a much higher duty factor, have now successfully utilized similar photocathodes. For future colliders, the principal remaining problem is the limit on the total charge that can be extracted in a time scale of 10 to 100 ns. In addition, higher polarization is critical for exploring new physics, especially supersymmetry. However, it appears that strained-layer crystals have reached the limit of their optimization. Today strained superlattice crystals are the most promising candidates for better performance. The individual layers of the superlattice can be designed to be below the critical thickness for strain relaxation, thus in principle improving the polarization. Thin layers also promote high electron conduction to the surface. In addition the potential barriers at the surface for both emission of conduction-band electrons to vacuum and for tunneling of valence-band holes to the surface can be significantly less than for single strained-layer crystals, thus enhancing both the yield at any intensity …

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

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

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

Weekly newspaper from Electra, Texas that includes local and regional news along with advertising.

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

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is a US Department of Energy (DOE) facility for the permanent disposal of transuranic waste from defense activities. In 1996, the DOE submitted the Title 40 CFR Part 191 Compliance Certification Application for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (CCA) to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The CCA included a probabilistic performance assessment (PA) conducted by Sandia National Laboratories to establish compliance with the quantitative release limits defined in 40 CFR 191.13. An experimental program to collect data relevant to the actinide source term began around 1989, which eventually supported the 1996 CCA PA actinide source term model. The actinide source term provided an estimate of mobile dissolved and colloidal Pu, Am, U, Th, and Np concentrations in their stable oxidation states, and accounted for effects of uncertainty in the chemistry of brines in waste disposal areas. The experimental program and the actinide source term included in the CCA PA underwent EPA review lasting more than 1 year. Experiments were initially conducted to develop data relevant to the wide range of potential future conditions in waste disposal areas. Interim, preliminary performance assessments and actinide source term models provided insight allowing refinement of experiments and …

The Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) (DOE/EA-1292) to evaluate the proposed treatment of low level mixed waste (LLMW) at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (Site). The purpose of the action is to treat LLMW in order to meet the Land Disposal Restrictions specified by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the waste acceptance criteria of the planned disposal site(s). Approximately 17,000 cubic meters (m{sup 3}) of LLMW are currently stored at the Site. Another 65,000 m{sup 3}of LLMW are likely to be generated by Site closure activities (a total of 82,000 m{sup 3} of LLMW). About 35,000 m{sup 3} can be directly disposed of off-site without treatment, and most of the remaining 47,000 m{sup 3} of LLMW can be treated at off-site treatment, storage, and disposal facilities. However, some LLMW will require treatment on-site, either because it does not meet shipping requirements or because off-site treatment is not available for these particular types of LLMW. Currently, this LLMW is stored at the Site pending the development and implementation of effective treatment processes. The Site needs to treat this LLMW on-site prior to shipment to off-site disposal facilities, in order to meet the DOE …

Created in 1989 to address over 50 years of environmental liabilities arising out of nuclear weapons production and testing in the United States since World War II, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Environmental Management (EM) Programs decade-long effort to reduce the costs of those environmental liabilities, collectively known as DOE's ''environmental mortgage,'' includes past as well as future cleanup costs associated with environmental contamination, hazardous and radioactive materials and wastes, contaminated buildings and facilities, and their associated risks. Tasked with the bulk of these cleanup efforts, the U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office's (DOE/NV's), Nevada Environmental Restoration Project (NV ERP) is attempting to complete applicable corrective actions at inactive contaminated sites and facilities managed by DOE/NV, while at the same time protecting human health and the environment. Regulated under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, the objectives of the NV ERP are to identify the nature and extent of the contamination, determine its potential risk to the public and the environment, and to perform the necessary corrective actions in compliance with this and other state and federal regulations, guidelines, and requirements. Associated with this vast effort are approximately 2,000 sites both on and off of the Nevada …

Improvements have been made in the performance of the ETA-II accelerator that allow a nominal 2 kA, 6 MeV beam to be focused to a spot size less that 1 mm in diameter. The improvements include reducing the energy sweep to less than +/- 0.5 & over 40 ns of the pulse using a real time energy diagnostic and improving the magnetic tune of the accelerator to reduce the emittance to 8 cm-mrad. Finally, an automated tuning system (MAESTRO) was run to minimize the time dependent centroid motion (corkscrew) by adjusting the steering dipoles over the focusing solenoids. The corkscrew motion was reduced to less than +/- 0.5 mm at the output of the accelerator.

Improvements have been made in the performance of the ETA-II accelerator that allow a nominal 2 kA, 6 MeV beam to be focused to a spot size less that 1 mm in diameter. The improvements include reducing the energy sweep to less than +/- 0.5 & over 40 ns of the pulse using a real time energy diagnostic and improving the magnetic tune of the accelerator to reduce the emittance to 8 cm-mrad. Finally, an automated tuning system (MAESTRO) was run to minimize the time dependent centroid motion (corkscrew) by adjusting the steering dipoles over the focusing solenoids. The corkscrew motion was reduced to less than +/- 0.5 mm at the output of the accelerator.

The purpose of this PVMaT subcontract was to establish manufacturing capability and enter commercial production with the SunSine{trademark}300 AC Module. This goal was achieved when production began in September 1997, first units were shipped in December 1997, and the pilot production of 109 units was completed in the spring of 1998. As of the completion of this PVMaT project, production capacity is 2500 units per year, which represents 627.5 kW AC {at} STC. This report provides the background of the development process that led to a commercial version of the SunSine{trademark}300; describes the SunSine{trademark}300 product, including theory of operation; provides a summary of all the significant test methods that were applied to prototypes of the product, with a summary of test results; and ends with a summary of the production process and a list of project sponsors who received units for evaluation.