Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) report on the actuarial projections for the trust funds of the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance programs, focusing on whether the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Board of Trustees': (1) 1999 long-range intermediate actuarial projections--their best estimates--as presented in the Trustees' 1999 report are based on generally accepted actuarial methods and techniques and include economic and demographic assumptions that contain no material defects because of errors or omissions and are individually reasonable; and (2) sensitivity tests include all assumptions that could have a significant effect on the projections and are reasonable."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on the Federal Housing Administration's credit subsidy budget estimates used to formulate the President's fiscal year (FY) 2000 budget to determine whether: (1) these estimates were reasonable; and (2) any changes need to be made to the credit subsidy estimation process to ensure that future budget estimates are reasonable."

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United States high-level nuclear waste from nuclear weapons production, naval propulsion programs, and the processing of commercial spent nuclear fuels is scheduled for immobilization in glass waste forms prior to permanent disposal in a mined geologic repository. Considerable attention has been directed to assessments of the subsequent long-term release of radionuclides from a repository under saturated and partially saturated conditions. Credible predictions of dose from a repository rely on insights to radionuclide sequestration in the glass, mechanisms of glass degradation, and radionuclide solubility and transport in the near-field. Underground nuclear test sites offer an unprecedented opportunity to evaluate processes relevant to repository performance in the absence of engineered barriers. Radionuclide migration programs at the Nevada Test Site represent a twenty-five year investment in the systematic investigation of the diverse radiologic source term from weapons testing and the evolution of the hydrologic source term which includes radionuclides dissolved in or otherwise available for transport by groundwater. The geology, hydrology, and geochemistry of the Nevada Test Site which includes the proposed Yucca Mountain repository provides an ideal natural laboratory to assess long-term radionuclide transport in the near and far-field. The Yucca Mountain repository shares with adjacent testing areas the following features: correlative …

This document provides a detailed account of how the acceptance testing was conducted for Project L-286, ''200E Area Sanitary Water Plant Effluent Stream Reduction''. The testing of the L-286 instrumentation system was conducted under the direct supervision

This quarterly report provides a status update for each of the milestones for the International Sematech project on the development of high-NA optics for a small-field EUVL exposure tool. Accomplishments this quarter include aerial image calculations, specifications for multilayer coatings, specification of the M2 substrate, and design of fixturing for M2, and the design of the metrology mount for M2. The optical fabrication vendor, Carl Zeiss, has completed the construction of an interferometer for use in fabricating the M1 substrate and reports a test-to-test repeatability of 0.06 nm rms. However, the simultaneous achievement of figure and finish is requiring longer than anticipated, which will extend the M1 delivery date to the end of Ql-2000. Zeiss is planning to process substrates M1 and M2 in parallel and currently does not project a slip in their overall schedule.

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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.

This report discusses projected agricultural imports and exports for FY2002, as well as legislation that deals with federal programs in support of agricultural exports and federal aid dedicated to farms and agricultural reform.

This report analyzes developments in U.S. policy toward Iran, including existing U.S. sanctions in force against that country. The report discusses changes in Iranian policy and in U.S. policy toward Iran since the May 1997 election of a relative moderate, Mohammad Khatemi, as Iran's President. The report analyzes the outstanding issues that divide the two countries, and conditions under which Iran might agree to U.S. overtures to improve relations with Iran's government.

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Experimentation, theory and modeling have all played vital roles in defining what is known about microstructural evolution and the effects of microstructure on material properties. Recently, technology has become an enabling factor, allowing significant advances to be made on several fronts. Experimental evidence of crystallographic slip and the basic theory of crystal plasticity were established in the early 20th Century, and the theory and models evolved incrementally over the next 60 years. (Asaro provides a comprehensive review of the mechanisms and basic plasticity models.) During this time modeling was primarily concerned with the average response of polycrystalline aggregates. While some detailed finite element modeling (FEM) with crystal plasticity constitutive relations was done in the early 1980s, such simulations over taxed the capabilities of the available computer hardware. Advances in computer capability led to a flurry of activity in finite element modeling in the next 10 years, increasing understanding of microstructure evolution and pushing the limits of theories and material characterization. Automated Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) has produced a similar revolution in material characterization. The data collected is extensive and many questions about the evolution of microstructure and its role in determining mechanic properties can now be addressed. It is …

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This supporting document provides a list of the Essential and Support drawings for the Interim Stabilization project equipment.

The Information Resources Catalog describes publications, videos, software, and other products available from OIT. These resources can help industrial firms improve energy efficiency and competitiveness, while reducing waste and pollution. Because many OIT resources have applications in multiple areas, the index is organized as a matrix.

A 1.5 cm long, 1.2 g specimen of the Eltanin meteorite was found at 10.97 m depth in Polarstern piston core PS2704-1. The early studies indicated that the small fragments of the Eltanin meteorite was debris from a km-sized asteroid which impacted into the deep-ocean basin. In this study, the authors measured {sup 39}Ar-{sup 40}Ar age, noble gases, and cosmogenic radionuclides in splits of specimen as a part of consortium studies of Eltanin meteorite. They concluded that the specimen was about 3 m deep from the asteroid surface. The exposure age of the Eltanin asteroid was about 20 Myr.

Terrestrial ages of Antarctic meteorites are one of the few parameters that will help us to understand the meteorite concentration mechanism on blue-ice fields. Traditionally, terrestrial ages were determined on the basis of {sup 36}Cl in the metal phase, which has an uncertainty of about 70 ky. For young meteorites (< 40 ky), the terrestrial age is usually and most accurately determined using {sup 14}C in the stone phase. In recent years two methods have been developed which are independent of shielding effects, the {sup 10}Be-{sup 36}Cl/{sup 10}Be method and the {sup 41}Ca/{sup 36}Cl method. These methods have reduced the typical uncertainties in terrestrial ages by a factor of 2, to about 30 ky. The {sup 10}Be-{sup 36}Cl/{sup 10}Be method is quite dependent on the exposure age, which is unknown for most Antarctic meteorites. The authors therefore also attempt to use the relation between {sup 26}Al and {sup 36}Cl/{sup 26}Al to derive a terrestrial age less dependent on the exposure age. The authors have measured the concentrations of cosmogenic {sup 10}Be, {sup 26}Al and {sup 36}Cl in the metal phase of {approximately} 70 Antarctic meteorites, from more than 10 different ice-fields, including many new ones. They then discuss the trends …

Many Navier-Stokes codes require that the governing equations be written in conservation form with a source term. The Spalart-Allmaras one-equation model was originally developed in substantial derivative form and when rewritten in conservation form, a density gradient term appears in the source term. This density gradient term causes numerical problems and has a small influence on the numerical predictions. Further work has been performed to understand and to justify the neglect of this term. The transition trip term has been included in the one-equation eddy viscosity model of Spalart-Allmaras. Several problems with this model have been discovered when applied to high-speed flows. For the Mach 8 flat plate boundary layer flow with the standard transition method, the Baldwin-Barth and both k-{omega} models gave transition at the specified location. The Spalart-Allmaras and low Reynolds number k-{var_epsilon} models required an increase in the freestream turbulence levels in order to give transition at the desired location. All models predicted the correct skin friction levels in both the laminar and turbulent flow regions. For Mach 8 flat plate case, the transition location could not be controlled with the trip terms as given in the Spalart-Allmaras model. Several other approaches have been investigated to allow …

Chinguetti is a 4.5 kg mesosiderite find recovered from the Adra region of Mauretania. In this paper the authors analyse a portion of the recovered sample for cosmogenic radionuclides to determine its terrestrial age, and to determine its pre-atmospheric radius. They determined the terrestrial age of Chinguetti to be < 30 ky. They constrain the pre-atmospheric radius to 50--80 cm and the shielding depths of 15--25 cm. These data indicate that Chinguetti is a comparatively recent fall.

The use of extremely small diameter x-ray beams at synchrotron radiation facilities has become an important experimental technique for investigators in many other scientific disciplines. While there have been several different optical elements developed for producing such microbeams, this SBIR project was concerned with one particular device: the tapered-monocapillary optic.

During the past few decades great numbers of meteorites have been recovered from the ice accumulation zones of Antarctica and from the vast Sahara. Although these two great deserts are the two most productive areas, the Southern High Plains in USA (New Mexico and Texas) and Nullarbor Plain, Western Australia have great potential for meteorite recovery. The number of meteorite finds from Roosevelt County, New Mexico alone exceeds 100 in only approximately 11 km{sup 2} area. Most meteorites from this area have been found on the floors of active deflation basins (blowouts) that have been excavated from a mantle of sand dunes. This area has no apparent fluvial or permafrost activity within the last 50,000 years, suggesting that only prevailing winds and natural aridity aid in the concentration and preservation of meteorites. The authors investigated these deflation surfaces in Lea County (the SE corner of New Mexico) and neighboring Winkler County, Texas following a prior search in this area which found two chondrites. They found a tiny H4 chondrite in this search and here they report its mineralogy and petrology along with preliminary data on its exposure history.

As preparation of the IPCC's Third Assessment Report takes place, one of the many observed climate variables of key interest is cloud amount. For several nations of the world, there exist records of surface-observed cloud amount dating back to the middle of the 20th Century or earlier, offering valuable information on variations and trends. Studies using such databases include Sun and Groisman (1999) and Kaiser and Razuvaev (1995) for the former Soviet Union, Angel1 et al. (1984) for the United States, Henderson-Sellers (1986) for Europe, Jones and Henderson-Sellers (1992) for Australia, and Kaiser (1998) for China. The findings of Kaiser (1998) differ from the other studies in that much of China appears to have experienced decreased cloudiness over recent decades (1954-1994), whereas the other land regions for the most part show evidence of increasing cloud cover. This paper expands on Kaiser (1998) by analyzing trends in additional meteorological variables for Chi na [station pressure (p), water vapor pressure (e), and relative humidity (rh)] and extending the total cloud amount (N) analysis an additional two years (through 1996).

The cosmogenic radionuclides, {sup 10}Be (1.5 Ma), {sup 26}Al (0.705 Ma), {sup 36}Cl (0.301 Ma), and {sup 53}Mn (3.7 Ma) were measured in selected clasts and matrix samples from the howardite Kapoeta. This work is an extension of that based on {sup 10}Be and {sup 26}Al [1]. Recent work based on measurements of cosmogenic {sup 21}Ne suggest the possibility of a complex recent exposure history for Kapoeta. The measurement of these radionuclides, in conjunction with production rates based on Monte Carlo calculations, can constrain exposure conditions and durations. Taken together, the radionuclide data are entirely consistent with a single stage 4{pi} exposure lasting {approximately} 3 Ma.

This paper reports on the development of a unified one-equation model for the prediction of transitional and turbulent flows. An eddy viscosity--transport equation for nonturbulent fluctuation growth based on that proposed by Warren and Hassan is combined with the Spalart-Allmaras one-equation model for turbulent fluctuation growth. Blending of the two equations is accomplished through a multidimensional intermittency function based on the work of Dhawan and Narasimha. The model predicts both the onset and extent of transition. Low-speed test cases include transitional flow over a flat plate, a single element airfoil, and a multi-element airfoil in landing configuration. High-speed test cases include transitional Mach 3.5 flow over a 5{degree} cone and Mach 6 flow over a flared-cone configuration. Results are compared with experimental data, and the grid-dependence of selected predictions is analyzed.