Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's efforts to recover the nonrecurring research, development, and production costs from its Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Program trust fund for items that were delivered to FMS customers."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the differences between GAO's 1998 report on the Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford Tank Waste Remediation project and a 1998 report on the same project prepared by the Pacific Rim Enterprise Center, focusing on why the two reports reached substantially different conclusions about the growth in costs for the tank waste project."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the proposed Veterans' Millennium Health Care Act, which would modify policies and practices of the health care system operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Attorney General's strategy for reducing and deterring illegal entry along the southwest border, focusing on: (1) the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) progress in implementing the southwest border strategy during fiscal year (FY) 1998; (2) interim results of the strategy; and (3) actions taken on GAO's recommendation that the Attorney General develop and implement a plan for formal, cost-effective, comprehensive, and systematic evaluation of the strategy."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the passenger facility charge program, focusing on: (1) how the program is helping airports fund their capital development; and (2) the potential impact of various proposals to change the program, including the option of making no change."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the valuation of federal oil, focusing on: (1) the information the Minerals Management Service (MMS) used to justify the need for revising its regulations; (2) how MMS addressed concerns expressed by the oil industry and the states in developing these regulations; and (3) the feasibility of the government's taking its oil and gas royalties in kind, instead of in cash."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the reauthorization of the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), focusing on the: (1) effect of the hold harmless provision on allocating funds to where needy elderly live; and (2) impact of the annual appropriations statutes on the distribution of SCSEP positions within states."

Mobile agent technology facilitates intelligent operation insoftware systems with less human interaction. Major challenge todeployment of mobile agents include secure transmission of agents andpreventing unauthorized access to resources between interacting systems,as either hosts, or agents, or both can act maliciously. The Anchortoolkit, designed by LBNL, handles the transmission and secure managementof mobile agents in a heterogeneous distributed computing environment. Itprovides users with the option of incorporating their security managers.This paper concentrates on the architecture, features, access control anddeployment of Anchor toolkit. Application of this toolkit in a securedistributed CVS environment is discussed as a case study.

The Chicago area coalition marks its five-year anniversary in 1999 as a member of the Clean Cities Program. Their progress in the last five years has been remarkable as they advance the alternative fuel and vehicle markets, increase coalition membership, help support new alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) legislation, and educate fleet managers. The coalition boasts more than 90 stakeholders, including industry, government, environmental and academic organizations, and membership continues to grow. Thanks to dedicated coalition members' efforts, a variety of AFVs can be seen on Chicago's streets, including transit and school buses, taxicabs, sedans, vans, and trucks.

A novel bioprocessing technology was developed that efficiently converts negative-value organic waste, including domestic refuse, animal manures, industrial wastes, food processing wastes, and municipal sewage sludge into saleable products, including fuel gas and compost. This technology is known as high solids anaerobic digestion and was developed at NREL from fundamental research to laboratory- and intermediate-scale system evaluations.

Stakeholders in the San Diego coalition have already helped remove about 125 tons of nitrogen oxides and 867 tons of carbon dioxide every year since their inception in 1996. They are proud of their numerous accomplishments, including the San Diego Gas and Electric's installation of a solar chargeport, which can charge up to six electric vehicles simultaneously and at no cost. San Diego Regional Clean Cities Coalition will also soon be home to the first alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) showroom in the world, as the Regional Transportation Center plans to open during the summer of 2000. The million-dollar facility will display the latest AFV models, rent and demonstrate vehicles, and offer a fueling and service center with public access. An educational center is also part of the plan.

As the second largest city in the United States, Los Angeles has more than 9 million motor vehicles on the road, accounting for up to 60% of the region's air pollution. Clean Cities Los Angeles has pioneered efforts in implementing innovation pollution reduction strategies, using alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). More than 475 compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and electric vehicles (EVs) have been incorporated into city fleets. They've also launched Quick Charge L.A., a comprehensive EV infrastructure program that has established almost 200 EV charging stations at workplaces, event centers, rail stations, and other sites throughout the city. Clean Cities Los Angeles also leads the way in securing grants for AFV projects.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO identified the oil and gas power industries' vulnerability to year 2000 problems and the reported status of their year 2000 readiness."

Analysis of directed flow observable for protons and pions from Au+Au collisions at 10.8 GeV/nucleon from experiment E917 at the AGS is presented. Using a Fourier series expansion, the first Fourier component, {nu}{sub 1},was extracted as a function of rapidity for mid-central collisions (17-24%). Clear evidence for positive directed flow is found in the proton data, and a weak, possibly negative directed flow signal is observed for {pi}{sup +} and {pi}{sup {minus}}.

Argonne National Laboratory is developing a ceramic waste form to immobilize salt containing fission products and transuranic elements. Preliminary results have been presented for ceramic waste forms containing surrogate fission products such as cesium and the lanthanides. In this work results from scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction are presented in greater detail for ceramic waste forms containing surrogate fission products. Additionally, results for waste forms containing plutonium and surrogate fission products are presented. Most of the surrogate fission products appear to be silicates or aluminosilicates whereas the plutonium is usually found in an oxide form. There is also evidence for the presence of plutonium within the sodalite phase although the chemical speciation of the plutonium is not known.

As part of an effort to fabricate oxide-based fibrous monolithic ceramics, sintering of mullite has been examined. The effects of Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} additions on sinterability of sol-gel-derived mullite and on the resulting microstructure were evaluated over a range of compositions, sintering times, and temperatures. Electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis, and density measurements indicated that the Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} additions promoted densification through formation of a Y-Si-Al-O liquid phase. This phase tended to solidify as a glass during normal processing, but could be crystallized by a two-step annealing process at 1300 and 1200 C. The four-point flexural strengths of mullite and mullite-5 Wt.% Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} were also examined.

Thermal management is a cross-cutting technology that directly or indirectly affects engine performance, fuel economy, safety and reliability, aerodynamics, driver/passenger comfort, materials selection, emissions, maintenance, and component life. This review paper provides an assessment of thermal management for large trucks, particularly as it impacts these features. Observations arrived at from a review of the state of the art for thermal management for over-the-road trucks are highlighted and commented on. Trends in the large truck industry, pertinent engine truck design and performance objectives, and the implications of these relative to thermal management, are presented. Finally, new thermal management concepts for high efficiency vehicles are described.

The electrometallurgical treatment of metallic spent nuclear fuel produces two high-level waste streams; cladding hulls and chloride salt. Argonne National Laboratory is developing a glass bonded sodalite waste form to immobilize the salt waste stream. The waste form consists of 75 Vol.% crystalline sodalite (containing the salt) with 25 Vol.% of an ''intergranular'' glassy phase. Microindentation fracture toughness measurements were performed on representative samples of this material using a Vickers indenter. Palmqvist cracking was confirmed by post-indentation polishing of a test sample. Young's modulus was measured by an acoustic technique. Fracture toughness, microhardness, and Young's modulus values are reported, along with results from scanning electron microscopy studies.

Unidirectional fibrous monoliths (FMs) based on dense, strong ZrSiO{sub 4} cells that were surrounded by a porous, weaker ZrSiO{sub 4} cell-boundary phase were fabricated. A duplex filament was coextruded, sectioned, bundled, and the resulting bundle was extruded to form a new filament. This filament was cut and packed into plate and bar dies to produce FM test specimens. Four-point flexural tests were conducted on the cell material, cell-boundary material, and FMs. After testing, fracture surfaces and cross sections were examined by scanning electron microscopy. The FMs exhibited graceful failure in flexural testing, and the fracture surfaces exhibited clear evidence of crack deflection and delamination.

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This document describes a fatigue lifetime acceptance test criterion by which studs having rolled threads, larger than 1.0 inches (25 mm) in diameter, can be assured to meet minimum quality attributes associated with a controlled rolling process.

The Atlanta Clean City was the first to join the program in 1993, and has been successfully spreading the word about the benefits of alternative fuels ever since. They have already surpassed their year 2000 goal of operating more than 2,600 alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). More than 30 stakeholders continue to help spur the Atlanta AFV market development by implementing innovative alternative fuel projects. Stakeholders actively support legislation that encourages the use of AFVs and sponsor workshops on advancing the choice.

The cities of Denver and Boulder comprise the Denver Clean Cities Coalition. They are committed to cleaner fuels, greener fleets, and bluer skies. More than 25 active stakeholders, including local government agencies, utilities, and private organizations, work together to advance alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles in the region. The city of Denver boasts several neighborhood electric vehicles for employees' use around town. The coalition has also sponsored alternative fuel workshops, special events, and has been successful in passing major alternative fuels legislation.

Sandia National Laboratories has undertaken an ambitious, multiyear effort to greatly improve our parachute system modeling and analysis capabilities. The impetus for this effort is twofold. First, extending the stockpile lifetime raises serious questions regarding the ability of the parachutes to meet their requirements in the future due to material aging. These aging questions cannot currently be answered using available tools and techniques which are based upon the experience of expert staff and full-scale flight tests and are, therefore, not predictive. Second, the atrophy of our parachute technology base and the loss of our experienced staff has eroded our ability to respond to any future problems with stockpiled parachutes or to rapidly design a new parachute system on an experience base alone. To assure a future in-house capability for technical oversight of stockpile nuclear weapon parachutes, Sandia must move from our present empirically based approach to a computationally based, predictive methodology. This paper discusses the current status of the code development and experimental validation activities. Significant milestones that have been achieved and those that are coming up in the next year are discussed.