Does the U.S. Serve as the World Economy's Engine of Growth? (open access)

Does the U.S. Serve as the World Economy's Engine of Growth?

This report examines three fundamental points implicit in the "engine of growth" argument. First, it questions whether the current account deficit is caused by strong U.S. growth and weak foreign growth. Second, it examines whether foreign growth is dependent on U.S. imports and the maintenance of a large U.S. current account deficit. Finally, it reviews the proposition that a U.S. recession would cause a world recession by lowering U.S. import demand. The report concludes that to make the final argument persuasive, other factors need to come into play, such as deteriorating expectations, financial crisis, or slow economic adjustment. These other factors seem unlikely to occur in the context of slowing U.S. growth, but they are possible in a recession.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Labonte, Marc & Makinen, Gail
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Uncertainty in Budget Projections (open access)

Uncertainty in Budget Projections

None
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Winters, Philip D.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Law of the Sea Convention and U.S. Policy (open access)

The Law of the Sea Convention and U.S. Policy

On October 7, 1994, President Clinton transmitted to the Senate the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention. The package was referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. On November 16, 1994, the U.N. Law of the Sea Convention entered into force but without accession by the United States. The 1994 Agreement entered into force on July 28, 1996, again without U.S. ratification.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Browne, Marjorie Ann
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Performance and Accountability: Challenges Facing the Department of Transportation (open access)

Performance and Accountability: Challenges Facing the Department of Transportation

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Transportation (DOT) faces critical challenges in achieving its goals of ensuring the safe and efficient movement of people and goods and in making cost-effective investments in the nation's transportation infrastructure. Many of the challenges GAO identified at DOT are long-standing and will require sustained attention by the new administration and Congress. Although the Department has efforts under way to address the shortcomings of its programs, these activities have not been fully implemented. Their success will depend on a strong commitment from DOT's new leadership and a sustained effort to identify and address critical human capital issues. Finally, as they address the problems facing each of the individual components, given the myriad of demands for new resources, the new administration and Congress must think and act to ensure that their transportation decisions reflect an intermodal transportation strategy that addresses the most pressing national needs in a cost-beneficial manner. This testimony summarizes a January GAO report (GAO-01-253)."
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Highway Infrastructure: FHWA's Model for Estimating Highway Needs Has Been Modified for State-Level Planning (open access)

Highway Infrastructure: FHWA's Model for Estimating Highway Needs Has Been Modified for State-Level Planning

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) developed the state-level version of the Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS-ST) model as an investment-analysis tool for highway planning at the state level. FHWA officials believe that some state departments of transportation will find the analysis that the HERS-ST model produces useful because it demonstrates the potential results of highway investment decisions from an economic point of view. FHWA is conducting a pilot project for its prototype HERS-ST model with states that volunteered to test the model. FHWA distributed to these states HERS-ST software, technical manuals, and sets of state highway data with which to run the model. FHWA then provided an overall orientation and technical training and addressed states' questions during a workshop. Officials from a sample of the states planning to participate reported that they are primarily interested in taking advantage of the model's use of benefit-cost analysis to assess alternative highway improvements. If the pilot project shows that states view the HERS-ST model as a useful tool, FHWA expects to upgrade the model for future users. In doing so, it would consider both enhancements that have already been …
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Aviation Competition: Regional Jet Service Yet to Reach Many Small Communities (open access)

Aviation Competition: Regional Jet Service Yet to Reach Many Small Communities

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The increasing numbers of regional jets (RJ) in operation have provided U.S. air carriers with opportunities to serve new and existing markets. With predominantly 50-seat aircraft, the carriers have initiated service to many large and medium-large communities but have provided less service to smaller communities. Service to small communities--to which the airlines now mostly operate turboprop aircraft--continues to be an important concern, because of the uncertainty about whether those markets may generate enough passenger traffic and revenue to be financially viable to sustain RJ operations. Eventually, smaller RJs may let carriers serve those smaller communities economically. Other questions also emerge about the impact of how the carriers will use their RJs. For example, the airlines could restrict capacity in a market by reducing service with larger mainline jets but increasing the number of RJ flights in a way that may inhibit entry by new competitors, allowing the airlines to charge fares higher than might exist in a more competitive market. Additionally, the growth in RJs has clearly contributed to an increasing problem with congestion, particularly in some locations like New York's LaGuardia Airport. But how the …
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The deuteron: structure and form factors (open access)

The deuteron: structure and form factors

A brief review of the history of the discovery of the deuteron in provided. The current status of both experiment and theory for the elastic electron scattering is then presented.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Garcon, M. & Orden, J.W. Van
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ductilization of Cr via Oxide Dispersions (open access)

Ductilization of Cr via Oxide Dispersions

Work by Scruggs et al. in the 1960's demonstrated that up to 20% tensile ductility could be achieved at room-temperature in sintered and extruded powder metallurgical Cr alloyed with MgO. During sintering, much of the MgO converts to a MgCr{sub 2}O{sub 4} spinel, which was hypothesized to getter nitrogen from the Cr, rendering it ductile. Recent efforts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have succeeded in duplicating this original effect. Preliminary results suggest that the ductilization mechanism may be more complicated than the simple nitrogen gettering mechanism proposed by Scruggs, as some ductility was observed at room-temperature in Cr-MgO alloys containing nitride precipitates. Results of microstructural characterization and room-temperature mechanical property studies are presented for Cr-6MgO-(0-2.2)Ti wt.% as a function of hot-pressing and extrusion. Possible mechanisms by which the MgO additions may improve the room-temperature ductility of Cr are discussed.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Brady, M.P.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Aging of Polyurethane Foam Insulation in Simulated Refrigerator Panels--Two-Year Results with Third-Generation Blowing Agents (open access)

Aging of Polyurethane Foam Insulation in Simulated Refrigerator Panels--Two-Year Results with Third-Generation Blowing Agents

Laboratory data are presented on the effect of constant-temperature aging on the apparent thermal conductivity of polyurethane foam insulation for refrigerators and freezers. The foam specimens were blown with HCFC-141b and with three of its potential replacements--HFC-134a, HFC-245fa, and cyclopentane. Specimens were aged at constant temperatures of 90 F, 40 F, and {minus}10 F. Thermal conductivity measurements were made on two types of specimens: full-thickness simulated refrigerator panels containing foam enclosed between solid plastic sheets, and thin slices of core foam cut from similar panels. Results are presented for the first two years of a multi-year aging study. Preliminary comparisons of measured data with predictions of a mathematical aging model are presented.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Wilkes, K. E.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Wind Powering America: Clean Energy for the 21st Century (revised) (open access)

Wind Powering America: Clean Energy for the 21st Century (revised)

This Wind Powering America brochure provides the perspectives on the benefits of wind power from 10 U.S. citizens from different sectors of society, including ranching, utility commissioner, parent, Native American, farmer/county commissioner, business owner, and independent turbine operator. It also provides basic facts about wind power, contacts for information about wind power, and a brief description of the Wind Powering America Initiative, its goals and its benefits.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: O'Dell, K.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Electroabsorption and Transport Measurements and Modeling Research in Amorphous Silicon Based Solar Cells; Annual Report; 24 March 1999-23 March 2000 (open access)

Electroabsorption and Transport Measurements and Modeling Research in Amorphous Silicon Based Solar Cells; Annual Report; 24 March 1999-23 March 2000

We have performed computer calculations to explore effects of the p/i interface on the open-circuit voltage in a-Si:H based pin solar cells. The principal conclusions are that interface limitation can occur for values of VOC significantly below the built-in potential of VBI of a cell, and that the effects can be understood in terms of thermionic emission of electrons from the intrinsic layer into the p-layer. We compare measurements of VOC and electroabsorption estimates of VBI with the model calculations. We conclude that p/i interface limitation is important for current a-Si:H based cells, and that the conduction band offset between the p and i layers is as important as the built-in potential for future improvements to VOC.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Schiff, E. A.; Kopidakis, N.; Lyou, J.; Rane, S.; Yuan, Q. & Zhu, K. (Syracuse University)
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Design and Development of a Ceramic Hot-Gas Filter for Fossil Energy (open access)

Design and Development of a Ceramic Hot-Gas Filter for Fossil Energy

Advanced coal-fueled, power generation systems utilizing pressurized fluidized bed combustion (PFBC) and integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technologies are currently being developed for high-efficiency, low emissions, and low-cost power generation. In spite of the advantages of these promising technologies, the severe operating environment often leads to material degradation and loss of performance in the barrier filters used for particle entrapment. To address this problem a monolithic cross-flow ceramic hot-gas filter is being designed and developed. Because of testing necessities, a hot-gas candle-filter which integrates the requirements of the cross-flow filter will be fabricated first. As a result, a high-purity, stoichiometric mullite, nine inch long, closed-end, candle-filter prototype was fabricated at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) using gelcasting technology.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Vaubert, V.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Alpha-null defocus: An optimum defocus condition with relevance for focal-series reconstruction (open access)

Alpha-null defocus: An optimum defocus condition with relevance for focal-series reconstruction

Two optimum defocus conditions are used in high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Scherzer defocus produces an image of the specimen ''projected potential'' to the resolution of the microscope, and Lichte defocus minimizes dispersion. A third optimum defocus is best for focal-series reconstruction; alpha-null defocus maximizes transfer of high-frequency diffracted beam amplitudes into the microscope image. Beam transfer is confined by incident-beam convergence to a Gaussian ''packet'' of defocus values centered on the alpha-null defocus. For a diffracted beam hkl, with a spatial frequency of u, the envelope for incident beam convergence has null damping effect when defocus is set to -Cs. (wavelength.u)**2. On either side of this alpha-null defocus value, the damping effect of incident-beam convergence reduces diffracted-beam transfer. The position of alpha-null defocus for any spatial frequency depends only on the value of Cs, but defocus-packet width around the alpha-null defocus depends only on the convergence semi-angle. Under NCEM OAM (one-Angstrom microscope) conditions, a [110] diamond image with the correct 0.89A spacing appears when the Si (004) alpha-null defocus is selected. The alpha-null defocus should be included as the (furthest underfocus) limit for all high-resolution focal series reconstruction.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: O'Keefe, Michael A.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Passive Solar Design for the Home (open access)

Passive Solar Design for the Home

This fact sheet provides homeowners with an introduction to passive solar design, which is also called climatic design. It explains how they can use windows, walls, and floors to collect, store, and distribute solar energy to heat their homes in the winter, as well as reject solar heat in the summer. It includes information on heat-movement physics; basic solar design techniques--direct gain, indirect gain (Trombe walls), isolated gain (sunspaces), and design for summer comfort; window options for passive solar; and design cost.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Krigger, J. & Waggoner, T.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Vector Approach to Regression Analysis and Its Implications to Heavy-Duty Diesel Emissions (open access)

A Vector Approach to Regression Analysis and Its Implications to Heavy-Duty Diesel Emissions

An alternative approach is presented for the regression of response data on predictor variables that are not logically or physically separable. The methodology is demonstrated by its application to a data set of heavy-duty diesel emissions. Because of the covariance of fuel properties, it is found advantageous to redefine the predictor variables as vectors, in which the original fuel properties are components, rather than as scalars each involving only a single fuel property. The fuel property vectors are defined in such a way that they are mathematically independent and statistically uncorrelated. Because the available data set does not allow definitive separation of vehicle and fuel effects, and because test fuels used in several of the studies may be unrealistically contrived to break the association of fuel variables, the data set is not considered adequate for development of a full-fledged emission model. Nevertheless, the data clearly show that only a few basic patterns of fuel-property variation affect emissions and that the number of these patterns is considerably less than the number of variables initially thought to be involved. These basic patterns, referred to as ''eigenfuels,'' may reflect blending practice in accordance with their relative weighting in specific circumstances. The methodology is …
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: McAdams, H. T.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Correlation of Nanoindentation and Conventional Mechanical Property Measurements (open access)

Correlation of Nanoindentation and Conventional Mechanical Property Measurements

A series of model ferritic alloys and two commercial steels were used to develop a correlation between tensile yield strength and nano-indentation hardness measurements. The NanoIndenter-II{reg_sign} was used with loads as low as 0.05 g{sub f} (0.490 mN) and the results were compared with conventional Vickers microhardness measurements using 200 and 500 g{sub f} (1.96 and 4.90 N) loads. Two methods were used to obtain the nanohardness data: (1) constant displacement depth and (2) constant load. When the nanohardness data were corrected to account for the difference between projected and actual indenter contact area, good correlation between the Vickers and nanohardness measurements was obtained for hardness values between 0.7 and 3 GPa. The correlation based on constant nanoindentation load was slightly better than that based on constant nanoindentation displacement. Tensile property measurements were made on these same alloys, and the expected linear relationship between Vickers hardness and yield strength was found, leading to a correlation between measured changes in nanohardness and yield strength changes.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Rice, P. M.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Evaluation of Through-Thickness Changes in Primary Damage Production in Commercial Reactor Pressure Vessels (open access)

An Evaluation of Through-Thickness Changes in Primary Damage Production in Commercial Reactor Pressure Vessels

An extensive database of atomic displacement cascades in iron has been developed using the method of molecular dynamics (MD). More than 300 simulations have been completed at 100K with energies between 0.1 and 100 keV. This encompasses nearly all energies relevant to fission reactor irradiation environments since a 100 keV MD cascade corresponds to the average iron cascade following a collision with a 5.1 MeV neutron. Extensive statistical analysis of the database has determined representative average values for several primary damage parameters: the total number of surviving point defects, the fraction of the surviving point defects contained in clusters formed during cascade cooling, and a measure of the size distribution of the in-cascade point defect clusters. The cascade energy dependence of the MD-based primary damage parameters has been used to obtain spectrum-averaged defect production cross sections for typical fission reactor neutron energy spectra as a function of depth through the reactor pressure vessel. The attenuation of the spectrum-averaged cross sections for total point defect survival and the fraction of either interstitials or vacancies in clusters are quite similar to that for the NRT dpa. However, the cross sections derived to account for the energy dependence of the point defect cluster …
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Stoller, R. E.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Atomic Scale Structure of Ultrathin Magnetic Multilayers and Correlation with Resistance and Giant Magnetoresistance and Spin-Dependent Tunneling (open access)

Atomic Scale Structure of Ultrathin Magnetic Multilayers and Correlation with Resistance and Giant Magnetoresistance and Spin-Dependent Tunneling

ORNL's advanced characterization capabilities were used to determine the physical and chemical structure of magnetic multilayer films intended for application in non-volatile magnetic random access memory devices and as magnetic sensors. ORNL modeling capabilities were used to incorporate this information into a first-principles based tool that can be used to model the magnetic and transport properties of these films. This modeling capability should be useful for understanding and optimizing novel magnetoelectronic devices.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Butler, W. H.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Rare Decay Results from KTeV and ({rho}{sub CKM}, {eta}{sub CKM}) (open access)

Rare Decay Results from KTeV and ({rho}{sub CKM}, {eta}{sub CKM})

Rare decay results from KTeV are reviewed, emphasizing modes that in principle provide information about the CKM matrix. The KTeV results shown here are from the 1997 data sample, which consists of about 2.7 x 10{sup 11} K{sub L}{sup 0} decay samples. KTeV also took data in 1999, giving a total data sample about 2.5 times what is presented here for three body decays and about 3.2 times what is presented here for four body decays. A summary of the KTeV detector is in the Appendix. Our recent results in lepton flavor violating modes are also presented.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Bellantoni, L.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sub-Angstrom transmission electron microscopy at 300keV (open access)

Sub-Angstrom transmission electron microscopy at 300keV

We have demonstrated sub-Angstrom TEM to a resolution of 0.78 Angstrom with the one-Angstrom microscope (OAM) project at the National Center for Electron Microscopy. The OAM combines a modified CM300FEG-UT with computer software able to generate sub-Angstrom images from experimental image series. We achieved sub-Angstrom resolution with the OAM by paying close attention to detail. We placed the TEM in a favorable environment. We reduced its three-fold astigmatism A2 from 2.46mm to 300 Angstrom (corresponding to transfer of 0.68 Angstrom spacings at a pi/4 phase limit). We improved its information limit by minimizing high-voltage and lens current ripple. Energy spread of 0.93eV FWHH gave a focus spread of 20 Angstrom and an information limit of 0.78 Angstrom, allowing successful resolution of the 0.89 Angstrom (400) atom spacings in [110] diamond. As a further test, we reduced the electron gun extraction voltage to 3kV to improve our information limit to 0.75 Angstrom, and then imaged 0 .7 Angstrom (444) atom spacings in [112] silicon as distinct pairs of 'white atoms' near an alpha-null defocus of -3783 Angstrom.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: O'Keefe, Michael A.; Nelson, E. Christian; Turner, John H. & Thust, Andreas
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Development and Characterization of Novel Adsorbent Carbons Final CRADA Report ORNL-97-0483 (open access)

The Development and Characterization of Novel Adsorbent Carbons Final CRADA Report ORNL-97-0483

None
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Burchell, T.D.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Two-loop perturbative quark mass renormalization from large {beta} Monte Carlo (open access)

Two-loop perturbative quark mass renormalization from large {beta} Monte Carlo

We present the calculation of heavy Wilson quark mass renormalization constants from large beta Monte Carlo simulations. Simulations were performed at various beta larger than 9, each on several spatial lattice sizes to allow for an infinite volume extrapolation. We use twisted boundary conditions to suppress tunneling and work in Coulomb gauge with appropriate adjustments for the temporal links. The one-loop coefficient obtained from this method is in agreement with the analytical result and a preliminary result for the second order coefficient is reported.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Juge, Keisuke Jimmy
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Lease Operations Environmental Guidance Document (open access)

Lease Operations Environmental Guidance Document

This report contains discussions in nine different areas as follows: (1) Good Lease Operating Practices; (2) Site Assessment and Sampling; (3) Spills/Accidents; (4) Containment and Disposal of Produced Waters; (5) Restoration of Hydrocarbon Impacted Soils; (6) Restoration of Salt Impacted Soils; (7) Pit Closures; (8) Identification, Removal and Disposal of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM); and (9) Site Closure and Construction Methods for Abandonment Wells/Locations. This report is primary directed towards the operation of oil and gas producing wells.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Management, Bureau of Land
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hanford Site Annual Treatability Studies Report: Calendar Year 2000 (open access)

Hanford Site Annual Treatability Studies Report: Calendar Year 2000

This report provides information required to be reported annually by the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 173-303-071 (3)(r)(ii)(F) and (3)(s)(ix) on the treatability studies conducted on the Hanford Site in 2000. These studies were conducted as required by WAC 173-303-071, ?Excluded Categories of Waste,? sections (3)(r) and (s). Unless otherwise noted, the waste samples were provided by and the treatability studies were performed for the U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, P.O. Box 550, Richland, Washington 99352. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identification number for these studies is WA7890008967.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: McCoy, Michael W.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library