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.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Small Business Administration's (SBA) management of information technology (IT), focusing on the five key IT process areas--investment management, architecture, information security, software development and acquisition, and human capital management."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the National Missile Defense program, focusing on: (1) programmatic changes to the program and whether significant performance and schedule risks remain; and (2) program officials' efforts to control costs, program estimate, and the potential for cost increases."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Bureau of Reclamation's operation and maintenance (O&M) of federal water projects, focusing on: (1) how the Bureau defines O&M activities; (2) what latitude the Bureau has in deciding which O&M costs to charge customers; (3) how the Bureau accounts for O&M costs; (4) how the Bureau defines overhead; (5) how the Bureau calculates the O&M costs that it charges to customers; (6) what concerns have been raised by customers about excessive O&M costs and to what extent customers have to review cost and recommend reductions; and (7) how the Bureau's cost practices compare to those of other entities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) monitors the use of extramural grant funds, focusing on: (1) how NIH monitors the scientific progress of extramural research; (2) whether NIH has controls to ensure the effective financial management of extramural research grants; and (3) how NIH used the increased funds from its fiscal year (FY) 1999 appropriations to support extramural research."

A letter 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) efforts to address personnel security issues, focusing on: (1) the factors that contributed to FAA's failure to adhere to the requirements of its personnel security program, which requires background searches--investigations or checks--of contractor employees commensurate with the risk level of the tasks to be performed; (2) whether FAA's "five layers of system protection" concept is a generally accepted security framework reflective of its security policies and procedures; and (3) the extent of FAA's compliance with the requirements of its personnel security program concerning background searches for FAA and contractor employees at all agency facilities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Navy Theater Wide system, focusing on: (1) how the additional funding provided by Congress for the program in fiscal years (FY) 1997 through 1999 was used; and (2) whether significant risks to the program remain."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the regulatory programs that target specific pollutants or sources of pollution under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, focusing on: (1) examples of emission sources subject to regulation under more than one program authorized by the act; and (2) the status of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to facilitate compliance for such sources."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed compliance by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) with the requirements of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. The assessment covers OMB and CBO reports issued for legislation enacted during the 1st session of the 106th Congress, which ended on November 22, 1999."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the federal assistance the United States provides to the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, focusing on the: (1) cost to the United States of providing assistance to Micronesia and the Marshall Islands in accordance with the existing Compact of Free Association from fiscal year (FY) 1987 through FY 1999; (2) funds provided prior to the Compact (earlier than FY 1987) for the effects of nuclear weapons testing to what is now the Marshall Islands; and (3) accuracy and reliability of the data the Department of the Interior uses to monitor and supervise the federal assistance programs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Veterans Affairs'(VA) efforts to reduce the waiting times for outpatient care, focusing on VA's initiatives to: (1) improve its waiting time; and (2) address its waiting time problems."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the National Railroad Passenger Corporation's (Amtrak) costs and capital investment needs, focusing on: (1) changes since 1995 in Amtrak's operating costs, including labor costs, payments to freight railroads to access their track and keep Amtrak trains on time, interest on commercial debt, the projected changes over the next five years, and Amtrak's plans to address these costs; (2) Amtrak's short- and long-term capital investment requirements, including investments to address "state of good repair" issues and investments in its progressive overhaul program and Northeast Corridor high-speed rail program; and (3) the availability of federal and nonfederal funds for Amtrak's capital investments."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) grants for international activities and smart growth, focusing on the: (1) number, dollar amount, and recipients of international and smart growth grants; (2) purposes of and the activities pursuant to the grants; and (3) statutory bases that EPA cites for awarding these grants."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the status of the Bureau of the Census' key census operations, focusing on: (1) whether the Bureau followed GAO's recommendations and adopted an alternate form of contingency planning instead of relying on Congress for a supplemental appropriation; (2) why the census is such a local endeavor; (3) whether the Bureau will be able to translate the high level of public awareness into participation for the 2000 Census; (4) whether partnership specialists will be stretched too thinly to have a successful impact on the 2000 Census; (5) the challenges facing the Bureau in conducting a timely and accurate followup; (6) how the Bureau could intentionally or unintentionally cut corners to get the nonresponse follow-up workload done in a shorter period of time; and (7) the risks that could jeopardize the release of timely data."

A briefing report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the management and oversight of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Campaign Finance Task Force (CFTF), focusing on: (1) the strained working relationships and trust concerns within CFTF; (2) interagency disagreement over investigative approach; (3) interagency disagreements over the management and analysis of evidence; (4) management changes, staffing fluctuations, and oversight; (5) CFTF prosecutive results and costs; and (6) limitations in the Federal Election Campaign Act that may inhibit prosecutions."

Acid deposition is a serious problem throughout much of Asia. Emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO{sub 2}) and nitrogen oxides (NO{sub x}) have been increasing steadily, as nations strive to increase their levels of economic development. Coal and fuel oil have been the main choices for powering industrial development; and, until recently, only a few countries (notably Japan and Taiwan) had taken significant steps to avert the atmospheric emissions that accompany fuel combustion. This paper discusses trends in emissions of SO{sub 2} and NO{sub x} that have occurred in Asian countries in the period 1985--1997, using results from the RAINS-ASIA computer model and energy-use trends from the IEA Energy Statistics and Balances database. Emissions of SO{sub 2} in Asia grew from 26.6 Tg in 1985 to 33.7 Tg in 1990 and to 39.2 Tg in 1997. Though SO{sub 2} emissions used to grow as fast as fossil-fuel use, recent limitations on the sulfur content of coal and oil have slowed the growth. The annual-average emissions growth between 1990 and 1997 was only 1.1%, considerably less than the economic growth rate. Emissions of NO{sub x}, on the other hand, continue to grow rapidly, from 14.1 Tg in 1985 to 18.7 Tg in …

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The thermal stability of Li-ion cells with intercalating carbon anodes and metal oxide cathodes was measured as a function of state of charge and temperature for two advanced cell chemistries. Cells of the 18650 design with Li{sub x}CoO{sub 2} cathodes (commercial Sony cells) and Li{sub x}Ni{sub 0.8}Co{sub 0.2}O{sub 2} cathodes were measured for thermal reactivity. Accelerating rate calorimetry (ARC) was used to measure cell thermal runaway as a function of state of charge (SOC), microcalorimetry was used to measure the time dependence of thermal output, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to study the thermal reactivity of the individual components. Thermal decomposition of the anode solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer occurred at low temperatures and contributes to the initiation of thermal runaway. Low temperature reactions from 40 C--70 C were observed during the ARC runs that were SOC dependent. These reactions measured in the microcalorimeter decayed over time with power-law dependence and were highly sensitive to SOC and temperature. ARC runs of aged and cycled cells showed complete absence of these low-temperature reactions but showed abrupt exothermic spikes between 105--135 C. These results suggest that during aging the anode SEI layer is decomposing from a metastable state to a …

The current BNFL Inc. flowsheet for the pretreatment of the Hanford High-Level tank wastes includes the use of Superlig{reg_sign} materials for the removal of {sup 137}Cs and {sup 99}Tc from the aqueous fraction of the waste. The cesium-selective Superlig{reg_sign} 644 (SL-644) and the technetium-selective Superlig{reg_sign} 639 (SL-639) have been evaluated in tests with actual waste samples. These materials have a finite processing lifetime in the plant and will need to be disposed of. The composition and level of residual radionuclide contamination is important for assessing various disposal pathways for the Superlig{reg_sign} materials. This report contains the results of analyses of subsamples of the SL-639 and SL 644 materials that have been used in small column testing of actual waste samples at the Radiochemical Processing Laboratory. The wastes that have been tested include samples from Tanks 241-AW-101 and 241-AN-107. The analyses of the spent resins include inductively coupled plasma/atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) for metals, cold vapor atomic absorption (CVAA) spectroscopy for mercury, gamma energy analysis (GEA) for radionuclides and inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for selected metals and radionuclides. While these results provide an indication of the analyte concentrations that may be left on the spent resin, they do not fully …

This article provides evidence for the arrival of automated reasoning. Indeed, one of its primary goals of the early 1960s has been reached: The use of an automated reasoning program frequently leads to significant contributions to mathematics and to logic. In addition, although not clearly an original objective, the use of such a program now plays an important role for chip design and for program verification. That importance can be sharply increased; indeed, in this article the authors discuss the possible value of automated reasoning to finding better designs of chips, circuits, and computer code. They also provide insight into the mechanisms--in particular, strategy--that have led to numerous successes. To complement the evidence they present and to encourage further research, the offer challenges and open questions for consideration. They include a glimpse of the future and some commentary on the possibly unexpected benefits of automating the search for answers to open questions.

This report documents a survey of the literature, and provides a compilation of data contained therein, for the {sup 31}P(p,{gamma}){sup 32}S reaction. Attention here is paid mainly to resonance states in the compound-nuclear system {sup 32}S formed by {sup 31}P + p, with emphasis on radiative capture, i.e., gamma-ray decay channels ({sup 32}Si + {gamma}) which populate specific levels in {sup 32}S. The energy region near the proton separation energy for {sup 32}S is especially important in this context for applications in nuclear astrophysics. Properties of the excited states in {sup 32}S are also considered. Summaries of all the located references with significant content are provided and numerical data contained in them are compiled in EXFOR format where applicable.

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This article focuses on an esoteric but practical use of automated reasoning that may indeed be new to many, especially those concerned primarily with verification of both hardware and software. Specifically, featured are a discussion and some methodology for taking an existing design -- of a circuit, a chip, a program, or the like--and refining and improving it in various ways. Although the methodology is general and does not require the use of a specific program, McCune's program OTTER does offer what is needed. OTTER has played and continues to play the key role in my research, and an interested person can gain access to this program in various ways, not the least of which is through the included CD-ROM in [3]. When success occurs, the result is a new design that may require fewer components, avoid the use of certain costly components, offer more reliability and ease of verification, and, perhaps most important, be more efficient in the contexts of speed and heat generation. Although the author has minimal experience in circuit design, circuit validation, program synthesis, program verification, and similar concerns, (at the encouragement of colleagues based on successes to be cited) he presents materials that might indeed …

OAK-B135 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION FISSION REACTOR FOR THE PERIOD MARCH 1,2000 THROUGH MAY 31,2000