A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Air Traffic Control Modernization Program, focusing on: (1) the causes of the problems that have plagued FAA's modernization program for nearly two decades; (2) recent agency efforts to overcome these problems; and (3) the readiness of FAA and others to meet year 2000 requirements."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Education's new rule on providing assistance to states for the education of children with disabilities and the early intervention program for infants and toddlers with disabilities. GAO noted that: (1) the final rule would implement changes made to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Part B) and the Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C of the act) by the 1997 amendments to the act; (2) the rule would revise the requirements on state complaint procedures under the Parts B and C programs; and (3) Education complied with 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 long-standing challenges facing the Department of Veterans Affairs in administering programs that provide financial and other benefits to veterans, their dependents, and survivors, focusing on: (1) recent progress the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has made; (2) areas in which progress is lacking; and (3) changes in program design that could hold potential for greater gains."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the U.S. Capitol Police's administrative operations, focusing on: (1) the U.S. Capitol Police's existing organizational strategies, structures, systems and processes; (2) the evaluation of the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of systems, processes, controls, and information for each administrative operation; and (3) opportunities for improving the operational efficiency and effectiveness of each administrative operation. GAO selected Booz-Allen and Hamilton to conduct the evaluation."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed how Congress can use the Government Performance and Results Act to facilitate agency performance plans to oversee early childhood programs, focusing on: (1) how the Results Act can assist in management and congressional oversight, especially in areas where there are multiple programs; (2) how the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services (HHS)--which together administer more than half of the federal early childhood program funds--addressed early childhood programs in their strategic and fiscal year 1999 and 2000 performance plans and the extent to which recent plans show progress in coordinating early childhood programs."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed how best to ensure the long-term viability of the Social Security Program."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) single-family mortgage insurance program, focusing on: (1) the activities of FHA's home mortgage insurance program, including the extent to which home buyers use FHA insurance, the characteristics of these home buyers--including whether they were first-time home buyers--and how many of them might also qualify for private mortgage insurance; (2) comparing the insurance terms available through FHA's principal single-family mortgage insurance program with private mortgage insurance and guarantees from the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA); and (3) examining the challenges FHA faces in ensuring the financial health of its Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund."

The approach to laser isotope separation taken in this study is based on isotopically selective, two-step, laser photodissociation of small molecules. A primary goal of this study is the measurement of fundamental molecular processes which control the two-step, photodissociative isotope enrichment process. This objective has led to experimental measurements of uv photodissociation cross sections for vibrationally excited states of several small molecules, including the first cross section reported for any neutral molecule in a specific, excited vibrational state. A second goal of this study has been the laboratory demonstration of isotope enrichment for isotopes of practical interest and for processes with a potential for larger scale production. Where possible, efforts have focussed on the separation of middle isotopes, such as {sup 17}O and {sup 33}S, which are expensive and difficult to separate using other techniques. Considerable success has been achieved in demonstrating the enrichment of isotopes of bromine, carbon, oxygen and a third goal of this study has been the application of computer modeling to the two-step enrichment process. Experimental measurements define as many as possible of the critical photophysical and chemical parameters required by an ab initio computer model of the enrichment process. Progress toward these goals has been …

The principal objective of this research is to determine the role host petroleum-derived oils (1000[degrees]F+), as well as that of catalytically treated host oils, play when used as liquefaction solvents in coprocessing with coal. The host oils will be extensively characterized and then pretreated in a number of ways which involve catalytic reactions such as hydrogenation, hydrocracking, isomerization, and dehydrogenation. The pretreated oils win then be characterized. The effects of the host oil on coprocessing with coal win be compared to those obtained using catalytically modified heavy oils. When appropriate, model compounds will be used to study specific reactions brought about by the pretreatments. Highly dispersed iron catalysts modified by the addition of small amounts of other metals wig be used to modify the chemical composition of the host oils. Work continued on Task H during this quarter. In the first phase of this task, the test oil, an Amoco resid, is being treated with hydrogenation catalysts such as Mo(CO)[sub 6] and Fe[sub 2]O[sub 3]/SO[sub 4] to determine the conditions necessary to increase the hydrogen content from about 10.2 wt % to about 11.5 wt %. In the second phase, more severe hydrogenation/hydrorefining is being carried out to determine the …

On August 14, 1992, the United States Department of Energy issued a Request for Comments Concerning State Policies Affecting Natural Gas Consumption. This Notice of (NOI) noted the increasing significance of the role played by states and sought to gain better understanding of how state policies impact the gas industry. The general trend toward a. more competitive marketplace for natural gas, as well as recent regulatory and legislative changes at the Federal level, are driving State regulatory agencies to reevaluate how they regulate natural gas. State action is having a significant impact on the use of natural gas for generating electricity, as well as affecting the cost-effective trade-off between conservation expenditures and gas use. Additionally, fuel choice has an impact upon the environment and national energy security. In light of these dimensions, the Department of Energy initiated this study of State regulation. The goals of this NOI are: (1) help DOE better understand the impact of State policies on the efficient use of gas; (2) increase the awareness of the natural gas industry and Federal and State officials to the important role of State policies and regulations; (3) create an improved forum for dialogue on State and Federal natural gas …

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.

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.

Quarterly publication of the Texas Comptroller's Office regarding sales and use tax in the state of Texas, including an analysis by county, analysis by industry, and related notes.

Quarterly publication of the Texas Comptroller's Office regarding sales and use tax in the state of Texas, including an analysis by county, analysis by industry, and related notes.

Transcript of a public hearing held by the Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals held March 25, 1998 in Dallas, Texas. This hearing includes testimony from judges and an attorney of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on the possible restructuring of the Fifth Circuit.

On August 14, 1992, the United States Department of Energy issued a Request for Comments Concerning State Policies Affecting Natural Gas Consumption. This Notice of (NOI) noted the increasing significance of the role played by states and sought to gain better understanding of how state policies impact the gas industry. The general trend toward a. more competitive marketplace for natural gas, as well as recent regulatory and legislative changes at the Federal level, are driving State regulatory agencies to reevaluate how they regulate natural gas. State action is having a significant impact on the use of natural gas for generating electricity, as well as affecting the cost-effective trade-off between conservation expenditures and gas use. Additionally, fuel choice has an impact upon the environment and national energy security. In light of these dimensions, the Department of Energy initiated this study of State regulation. The goals of this NOI are: (1) help DOE better understand the impact of State policies on the efficient use of gas; (2) increase the awareness of the natural gas industry and Federal and State officials to the important role of State policies and regulations; (3) create an improved forum for dialogue on State and Federal natural gas …

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos), and CCS Associates are conducting the Heat Pipe Radiation Cooling (HPRC) for High-Speed Aircraft Propulsion program to determine the advantages and demonstrate the feasibility of using high-temperature heat pipes to cool hypersonic engine components. This innovative approach involves using heat pipes to transport heat away from the combustor, nozzle, or inlet regions, and to reject it to the environment by thermal radiation from adjacent external surfaces. HPRC is viewed as an alternative (or complementary) cooling technique to the use of pumped cryogenic or endothermic fuels to provide regenerative fuel or air cooling of the hot surfaces. The HPRC program has been conducted through two phases, an applications phase and a feasibility phase. The applications program (Phase 1) included concept and assessment analyses using hypersonic engine data obtained from US engine company contacts. The applications phase culminated with planning for experimental verification of the HPRC concept to be pursued in a feasibility program. The feasibility program (Phase 2), recently completed and summarized in this report, involved both analytical and experimental studies.

Hyperbolic partial differential equations encompass an extremely important set of physical phenomena including electromagnetics and acoustics. Small amplitude acoustic interactions behave much the same as electromagnetic interactions for longitudinal acoustic waves because of the similar nature of the governing hyperbolic equations. Differences appear when transverse acoustic waves are considered, nonetheless the strong analogy between the acoustic and electromagnetic phenomena prompted the development of a Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) acoustic analog to the existing electromagnetic FDTD technique. The advantage of an acoustic FDTD (AFDTD) code are as follows: (1) Boundary condition-free treatment of the acoustic scatterer -- only the intrinsic properties of the scatterer`s material are needed, no shell treatment or other set of special equations describing the macroscopic behavior of a sheet of material or a junction, etc. are required; this allows completely general geometries and materials in the model. (2) Advanced outer radiation boundary condition analogs -- in the electromagnetics arena, highly absorbing outer radiation boundary conditions have been developed that can be applied with little modification to the acoustics arena with equal success. (3) A suite of preexisting capabilities related to electromagnetic modeling -- this includes automated model generation and interaction visualization as its most important components …

The approach to laser isotope separation taken in this study is based on isotopically selective, two-step, laser photodissociation of small molecules. A primary goal of this study is the measurement of fundamental molecular processes which control the two-step, photodissociative isotope enrichment process. This objective has led to experimental measurements of uv photodissociation cross sections for vibrationally excited states of several small molecules, including the first cross section reported for any neutral molecule in a specific, excited vibrational state. A second goal of this study has been the laboratory demonstration of isotope enrichment for isotopes of practical interest and for processes with a potential for larger scale production. Where possible, efforts have focussed on the separation of middle isotopes, such as {sup 17}O and {sup 33}S, which are expensive and difficult to separate using other techniques. Considerable success has been achieved in demonstrating the enrichment of isotopes of bromine, carbon, oxygen and a third goal of this study has been the application of computer modeling to the two-step enrichment process. Experimental measurements define as many as possible of the critical photophysical and chemical parameters required by an ab initio computer model of the enrichment process. Progress toward these goals has been …

Argonne National Laboratory`s Analysis & Diagnostic Laboratory (ADL) tests advanced batteries under simulated electric and hybrid vehicle operating conditions. The ADL facilities also include a post-test analysis laboratory to determine, in a protected atmosphere if needed, component compositional changes and failure mechanisms. The ADL provides a common basis for battery performance characterization and life evaluations with unbiased application of tests and analyses. The battery evaluations and post-test examinations help identify factors that limit system performance and life, and the most-promising R&D approaches for overcoming these limitations. Since 1991, performance characterizations and/or life evaluations have been conducted on eight battery technologies (Na/S, Li/S, Zn/Br, Ni/MH, Ni/Zn, Ni/Cd, Ni/Fe, and lead-acid). These evaluations were performed for the Department of Energy`s. Office of Transportation Technologies, Electric and Hybrid Propulsion Division (DOE/OTT/EHP), and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Transportation Program. The results obtained are discussed.

For the bioremediation of explosives, there is the need for RDX uncontaminated by HMX. (In the Bachmann process, RDX always has residual HMX.) There are two methods for synthesizing pure RDX: one involving oxidation of R-salt, the other nitration of hexamine. Absence of HMX in the RDX samples was confirmed by NMR and melting points.

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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether an individual whose juvenile files may not be sealed by virtue of section 51.16(j) of the Family Code has an affirmative duty to disclose his prior criminal history in an application for employment, information, or licensing (RQ-2188)

Silica aerogel consists of bonded silicon and oxygen joined into log strands, which are randomly linked together with pockets of air between them. Discovered in the 1930s, the material was thought to have little use outside of theoretical science. However, with the advent of greatly improved processing techniques, such as those developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, aerogels are on the verge of commercialization. This document describes the need for aerogels in the high-speed microelectronics industry, and state of the art processing techniques. Collaboration is welcomed in the endeavor.

This is the fourth quarterly report covering December 5, 1992, to March 4, 1993. The overall goal of this program is to develop a system based on reverse osmosis (RO) membranes that can treat oily water economically. This system will be based on the use of thin-film-composite (TFC) membranes that consist of a selective coating placed on a solvent-resistant hollow-fiber support. For this program, we plan to develop solvent-resistant hollow-fiber supports and coat them with a ``loose RO`` coating. We developed the coating, which is designated TTM, in previous work for the treatment of oily waste waters. During this reporting period, work was focused on (1)fabrication and testing of large-scale hollow-fiber modules, (2)performing preliminary field tests using these modules, and (3)arranging for a demonstration test of this technology. Our results show that the solvent-resistant TTM hollow-fiber modules perform well when operated on oily waters. During the next reporting period, we plan to complete arrangements for the demonstration test of this technology. This field test, preparation of the final report, and technology transfer are the only tasks remaining in this program.