Air Traffic Control: FAA's Modernization Investment Management Approach Could Be Strengthened (open access)

Air Traffic Control: FAA's Modernization Investment Management Approach Could Be Strengthened

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) modernization investment management approach as carried out through the Acquisition Management System (AMS), focusing on the extent to which FAA, through AMS: (1) has established a structured approach for selecting and controlling its investments; (2) incorporates all investments, including those in operation, in the agency's portfolio; and (3) selects, controls, and evaluates its investments with complete and reliable information."
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Biosynthesis of long-chain dicarboxylic acid monomers from renewable resources. Final technical report (open access)

Biosynthesis of long-chain dicarboxylic acid monomers from renewable resources. Final technical report

None
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: Mobley, David P.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Blanket Biological Review for General Maintenance Activities within Active Burial Grounds, 200 E and 200 W Areas, ECR No. 99-200-042 (open access)

Blanket Biological Review for General Maintenance Activities within Active Burial Grounds, 200 E and 200 W Areas, ECR No. 99-200-042

No plant and animal species protected under the Endangered Species Act, candidates for such protection, or species listed by the Washington state government were observed in the vicinity of the proposed sites. Piper's daisy is a Washington State Sensitive plant species, and as such is a Level III resource under the Hanford Site Biological Resources Management Plan. Compensatory mitigation is appropriate for this species when adverse impacts cannot be avoided. The stalked pod and crouching milkvetchs are relatively common throughout 200 West area, therefore even if the few individuals within the active burial grounds are disturbed, it is not likely that the overall local population will be adversely affected. The Watch List is the lowest level of listing for plant species of concern in the State of Washington. No adverse impacts to species or habitats of concern are expected to occur from routine maintenance within the active portions of the 218-W-4C, 218-W-4B, 218-W-3, 218-W-3A, a nd 218-W-5 burial grounds, as well as the portion of 218-E-12B currently used for storage of retired submarine reactor cores. The remaining portions of the 218-E-12B burial ground, the entire 218-E-10 burial ground, and the 218-W-6 burial ground currently have extensive vegetative cover and it …
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: Brandt, Charles A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Community Development: Extent of Federal Influence on 'Urban Sprawl' Is Unclear (open access)

Community Development: Extent of Federal Influence on 'Urban Sprawl' Is Unclear

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the contribution of federal programs and policies to urban sprawl, focusing on: (1) the origins and implications of urban sprawl; (2) evidence that exists on the influence of federal programs and policies on urban sprawl; and (3) regulatory review and coordination mechanisms evaluating and mitigating the effects of federal actions on urban sprawl."
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cooperative learning of neutron diffusion and transport theories (open access)

Cooperative learning of neutron diffusion and transport theories

A cooperative group instructional strategy is being used to teach a unit on neutron transport and diffusion theory in a first-year-graduate level, Reactor Theory course that was formerly presented in the traditional lecture/discussion style. Students are divided into groups of two or three for the duration of the unit. Class meetings are divided into traditional lecture/discussion segments punctuated by cooperative group exercises. The group exercises were designed to require the students to elaborate, summarize, or practice the material presented in the lecture/discussion segments. Both positive interdependence and individual accountability are fostered by adjusting individual grades on the unit exam by a factor dependent upon group achievement. Group collaboration was also encouraged on homework assignments by assigning each group a single grade on each assignment. The results of the unit exam have been above average in the two classes in which the cooperative group method was employed. In particular, the problem solving ability of the students has shown particular improvement. Further,the students felt that the cooperative group format was both more educationally effective and more enjoyable than the lecture/discussion format.
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: Robinson, Michael A.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Department of Energy: Accelerated Closure of Rocky Flats: Status and Obstacles (open access)

Department of Energy: Accelerated Closure of Rocky Flats: Status and Obstacles

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) ability to close the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site by the end of 2006, focusing on: (1) DOE's plans for accelerating the site's closure and challenges that could impede closure; (2) the condition of the site at closure and the activities that will remain after closure; and (3) the costs of closing the site and the savings expected from accelerating its closure."
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
A DES ASIC Suitable for Network Encryption at 10 Gbps and Beyond (open access)

A DES ASIC Suitable for Network Encryption at 10 Gbps and Beyond

The Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) Data Encryption Standard (DES) Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) is the fastest known implementation of the DES algorithm as defined in the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) Publication 46-2. DES is used for protecting data by cryptographic means. The SNL DES ASIC, over 10 times faster than other currently available DES chips, is a high-speed, filly pipelined implementation offering encryption, decryption, unique key input, or algorithm bypassing on each clock cycle. Operating beyond 105 MHz on 64 bit words, this device is capable of data throughputs greater than 6.7 Billion bits per second (tester limited). Simulations predict proper operation up to 9.28 Billion bits per second. In low frequency, low data rate applications, the ASIC consumes less that one milliwatt of power. The device has features for passing control signals synchronized to throughput data. Three SNL DES ASICS may be easily cascaded to provide the much greater security of triple-key, triple-DES.
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: Gass, Karl; Pierson, Lyndon G.; Robertson, Perry J.; Wilcox, D. Craig & Witzke, Edward L.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Durability and natural mineral studies carried out to support development of waste forms for immobilisation of plutonium interim report: April 30, 1999 (open access)

Durability and natural mineral studies carried out to support development of waste forms for immobilisation of plutonium interim report: April 30, 1999

This report details the work undertaken at ANSTO under Project 2 of the State of Work with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (document B345772). In this Statement of Work, it was detailed that the following tasks would be carried out: Task 2.1--Corrosion tests on monoliths. This task was to assess the durability of ''impurity samples'' produced in Task 1.4, and ''near-equilibrium processing condition samples'' produced in Task 1.2. Task 2.2--Corrosion tests on powdered samples. This task was to determine the forward dissolution rate of single-phase materials using a single-pass-flow-through test (SPFT). Task 2.3--Physical property measurements. These results have been reported elsewhere and will not be included in this report. Task 2.4--Natural mineral analogue studies. These studies were to be undertaken to document the geological durability of natural brannerites. This report provides results of the work undertaken in Tasks 2.1, 2.2 and 2.4 until the end of April 1999.
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: Hart, K P; Lumpkin, G R; Zhang, Y; Loi, E & Leung, S
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Enhancement of Equilibrium Shift in Dehydrogenation Reactions Using a Novel Membrane Reactor Semi-Annual Report: October 1998-February 1999 (open access)

Enhancement of Equilibrium Shift in Dehydrogenation Reactions Using a Novel Membrane Reactor Semi-Annual Report: October 1998-February 1999

Using electroless deposition of palladium thin-films on a microporous ceramic substrate, we developed a hydrogen-selective palladium-ceramic composite membrane. The new membrane has significantly higher permeability and selectivity for hydrogen than many of the commercially available dense-metallic membrane. The hydrogen permeability of the new membrane increases with increasing temperature. These properties make it an ideal candidate for use in membrane reactors to study dehydrogenation reactions by equilibrium shift. To investigate the usefulness of the new membrane in membrane reactor-separator configuration, a model for studying dehydrogenation of cyclohexane by equilibrium in a membrane reactor is developed. Radial diffusion is considered to account for the concentration gradient in the radial direction due to permeation through the membrane. The model is investigated with and without the reaction. In the non-reaction case, a mixture of argon, benzene, cyclohexane, and hydrogen is used in the reaction side and argon is used in the separation side. In the case of dehydrogenation reaction, the feed stream to the reaction side contained hydrogen and argon while in the separation side argon is used as sweep gas. Equilibrium conversion for dehydrogenation of cyclohexane is 18.7%. Present study shows that 100% conversion can be achieved by equilibrium shift using Pd-Ceramic membrane …
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: Ilias, Shamsuddin & King, Franklin G.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Evaluation of the Parallel Shift-and-Invert Lanczos Method (open access)

An Evaluation of the Parallel Shift-and-Invert Lanczos Method

When the Lanczos method is used to compute eigenvalues, it is often restarted or used with the shift-and-invert scheme. The restarted scheme usually uses less memory but the shift-and-invert scheme is more robust. In addition, the shift-and-invert Lanczos method requires accurate solutions of a series of linear systems. Parallel software packages suitable for these linear systems are only started to become available. In this talk, we will present our evaluation of two such packages and briefly examine when it is necessary to use the shift-and-invert scheme.
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: Wu, K. & Simon, H.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Report for the National Ski Patrol System, Incorporated, for Fiscal Year 1998 (open access)

Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Report for the National Ski Patrol System, Incorporated, for Fiscal Year 1998

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the National Ski Patrol System, Incorporated, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1998, focusing on whether the audit report complied with the financial reporting requirements of the law."
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Report for the Reserve Officers Association of the United States for Fiscal Year 1998 (open access)

Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Report for the Reserve Officers Association of the United States for Fiscal Year 1998

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the Reserve Officers Association of the United States for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1998, focusing on whether the audit report complied with the financial reporting requirements of the law."
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Reports for the Retired Enlisted Association, Incorporated, for 1995, 1996, and 1997 (open access)

Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Reports for the Retired Enlisted Association, Incorporated, for 1995, 1996, and 1997

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the Retired Enlisted Association, Incorporated, for the fiscal years ended December 31, 1995, 1996, and 1997, focusing on whether the audit report complied with the financial reporting requirements of the law."
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
[Final report for DOE contract FG03-88ER13882] (open access)

[Final report for DOE contract FG03-88ER13882]

The female reproductive organ, the gynoecium, is the most complex structure that plants produce. The molecular mechanisms that coordinate its development are unknown, but can be dissected by molecular genetics. The ettin (ett) mutation provides a remarkable window for viewing gynoecium development. ett induced alterations result from misinterpretation of positional information along longitudinal and transverse gynoecial axes. Molecular cloning revealed the ETT encoded amino acid sequence is homologous to transcriptional factors involved in signaling by the plant hormone auxin. Early ETT gene expression marks the site of the future outgrowth of the gynoecium. The primary gene sequence and pattern of expression of ETT fits with a role in hormone mediated signaling for regional development in the female organ.
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
FINAL TOPICAL REPORT FOR NOVEL SYSTEMS SEQUESTERING AND UTILIZATION OF CO2 (open access)

FINAL TOPICAL REPORT FOR NOVEL SYSTEMS SEQUESTERING AND UTILIZATION OF CO2

Atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentrations are increasing by about 0.5% each year, and there is serious concern that this will cause adverse climate change via the ''greenhouse effect.'' The principal sources of the increase are the utilization of fossil fuels and the deforestation of land. The capture of CO{sub 2} from flue gas or process streams has been demonstrated using chemical absorption with an ethanolamine solvent. However, the cost of releasing the CO{sub 2} by thermal stripping and recovering the solvent is very high, resulting in an energy penalty of 27% to 37 %, depending on the type of power plant (1). Alternatives that would result in energy penalties of 15% have been investigated. Sequestering schemes for CO{sub 2} produced from fossil fuels conversion to energy in utility plants could instead yield useful polymer products. Relatively concentrated CO{sub 2} by-product streams from fermentation of cellulose to fuel ethanol will also be available for conversion to useful polymers. As shown in Figure 1, this project offers two opportunities for mitigating the emission of CO{sub 2} to the atmosphere, depending on the source configuration and economic feasibility of the proposed processes: CO{sub 2} in a conventional utility-produced flue gas could be sequestered to …
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: Olson, Edwin S.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Focus Report, Volume 76, Number 12, April 1999 (open access)

Focus Report, Volume 76, Number 12, April 1999

Report on the restructuring on the electric utility industry based on previous restructuring by California and Pennsylvania.
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives. Research Organization.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Further Evidence for a Prepulse on OMEGA (open access)

Further Evidence for a Prepulse on OMEGA

None
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fusion Research: Costs of Ending DOE's Participation in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Project Appear Reasonable (open access)

Fusion Research: Costs of Ending DOE's Participation in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Project Appear Reasonable

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined whether the Department of Energy's (DOE) expenses to close out its participation in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project were reasonable."
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
HEMISPHERIC CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY (open access)

HEMISPHERIC CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY

The final data package has been completed for the Mississippi State University, DIAL FTP Wall Depth Removal Characterization Technology. The package has been sent to DIAL for comments. Work is progressing on completing the transfer of glove boxes and tanks from Rocky Flats to FIU-HCET for the purpose of performing size reduction technology assessments. Vendors are being identified and security measures are being put in place to meet the High Risk Property criteria required by Rocky Flats. The FIU-HCET Technology Assessment Program has been included as one of 11 verification programs across the US and Canada described in the Interstate Technology Regulatory Cooperation (ITRC) document, ''Multi-state Evaluation of Elements Important to the Verification of Remediation Technologies'', dated January 1999. FIU-HCET will also participate in a panel discussion on technology verification programs at the International Environmental Technology Expo '99.
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: Ebadian, M.A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
IC-Compatible Technologies for Optical MEMS (open access)

IC-Compatible Technologies for Optical MEMS

Optical Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (Optical MEMS) Technology holds the promise of one-day producing highly integrated optical systems on a common, monolithic substrate. The choice of fabrication technology used to manufacture Optical MEMS will play a pivotal role in the size, functionality and ultimately the cost of optical Microsystems. By leveraging the technology base developed for silicon integrated circuits, large batches of routers, emitters, detectors and amplifiers will soon be fabricated for literally pennies per part. In this article we review the current status of technologies used for Optical MEMS, as well as fabrication technologies of the future, emphasizing manufacturable surface micromachining approaches to producing reliable, low-cost devices for optical communications applications.
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: Krygowski, T.W. & Sniegowski, J.J.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
IMPROVED CORROSION RESISTANCE FOR ALUMINA REFRACTORY (open access)

IMPROVED CORROSION RESISTANCE FOR ALUMINA REFRACTORY

In order to increase the efficiency of advanced coal-fired power systems, higher working fluid temperatures must be reached. Some system surfaces will have to be protected by covering them with corrosion-resistant refractories. Corrosion is the degradation of the material surfaces or grain boundaries by chemical reactions with melts, liquids, or gases causing loss of material and, consequently, a decrease in the strength of the structure. In order to develop methods of reducing corrosion, the microstructure that is attacked must be identified along with the mechanism and rates of attack. Earlier tests with several commercially available high-temperature castable refractories showed that the fused-alumina aggregate grains within the materials had the highest corrosion resistance of any of the castable materials. However, the cement holding the grains was easily attacked. Therefore, to improve the corrosion resistance and thermomechanical properties of alumina-based refractories, we attempted to change the cement to a more corrosion- and erosion-resistant bonding material through the addition of rare-earth oxides (REO). Phase diagrams were used to identify stable high-melting-temperature materials within the lanthanide-alumina series that could modify the bonding phase of the alumina-based refractory. Two mechanisms of reducing corrosion were investigated. One was the formation of corrosion-resistant layers within the refractory. …
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: Hurley, John P. & Kleven, Patty L.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Interaction of plasmas with intense lasers (open access)

Interaction of plasmas with intense lasers

The interaction of plasmas with intense lasers is an excellent example of how different fields of physics are inter-connected. Invention of the laser and its ongoing development has allowed the creation and study of high temperature, dense matter in the laboratory. The results both advance the underlying plasma science and are relevant to many fields ranging from astrophysics to fusion and nonlinear physics. A brief overview of the interaction physics is given. Selected topics are discussed to illustrate the exciting progress in experimental, theoretical and computational investigations with focused laser intensities up to 10{sup 21} W/cm{sup 2}.
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: Kruer, W.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Land Management Systems: Major Software Development Does Not Meet BLM's Business Needs (open access)

Land Management Systems: Major Software Development Does Not Meet BLM's Business Needs

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO recommended actions it believes the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) should take to improve its efforts to develop and deploy its Automated Land and Mineral Record System (ALMRS)."
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Naturally fractured tight gas reservoir detection optimization (open access)

Naturally fractured tight gas reservoir detection optimization

In March, work continued on characterizing probabilities for determining natural fracturing associated with the GGRB for the Upper Cretaceous tight gas plays. Structural complexity, based on potential field data and remote sensing data was completed. A resource estimate for the Frontier and Mesa Verde play was also completed. Further, work was also conducted to determine threshold economics for the play based on limited current production in the plays in the Wamsutter Ridge area. These analyses culminated in a presentation at FETC on 24 March 1999 where quantified natural fracture domains, mapped on a partition basis, which establish ''sweet spot'' probability for natural fracturing, were reviewed. That presentation is reproduced here as Appendix 1. The work plan for the quarter of January 1, 1999--March 31, 1999 comprised five tasks: (1) Evaluation of the GGRB partitions for structural complexity that can be associated with natural fractures, (2) Continued resource analysis of the balance of the partitions to determine areas with higher relative gas richness, (3) Gas field studies, (4) Threshold resource economics to determine which partitions would be the most prospective, and (5) Examination of the area around the Table Rock 4H well.
Date: April 30, 1999
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library