Newsletter of the Texas Department of Health discussing the news, activities, and events of the organization and other information related to health in Texas.

Japan has quickly risen to prominence as a donor of official development assistance (ODA), providing volumes of aid on par with the United States since the late 1980s. Originally a tool to bolster Japan's postwar economic recovery, Japanese aid has gradually assumed importance as a foreign policy tool. Faced with increased pressure from the international community to play a greater role in meeting global challenges and lacking the military and diplomatic resources of other nations, Japan has increasingly turned to its foreign aid as a source of world influence.

Congressional interest linking foreign aid more directly with commercial interests has grown in recent years as the U.S. budget becomes increasingly strained, constituent support for foreign aid dwindles, and U.S. industries seek Federal assistance. The Trade and Development Agency is one of several Government agencies involved in "aid for trade"--programs that combine development assistance and export promotion.

Dedicated excise taxes finance only a small number of the many activities undertaken by the Federal Government. The fourteen trust funds and special funds currently financed by excise taxes can be grouped under four programmatic purposes: nature conservation and recreation, transportation, environmental cleanup, and health damage compensation. In close parallel, the products currently subject to taxation on behalf of trust and special funds can be classified under the categories of hunting and fishing equipment; cargo transport and air passenger transportation; motor fuels; and materials potentially hazardous to the environment or human health.

In the Environmental Release Prevention and Control Plan (ERP and CP), WSRC made a commitment to conduct the following follow-up activities and actions: (1) Complete the action items developed in response to the findings and recommendation of the Environmental Release Prevention Taskteam (WSRC-RP-92-356). (2) Complete all batch and continuous release procedure revisions to incorporate the attributes that WSRC senior management required of each procedure. (3) DOE-SR Assistance Managers and WSRC counterparts to reach consensus and closure on the identified engineered solutions documented in the ERP and CP, develop and drive implementation of facility changes per the agreements. (4) Continue to analyze releases and monitor performance in accordance with the ERP and CP, and utilize the ALARA Release Guides Committee to drive improvements. (5) Conduct annual re-evaluations of the cost benefit analyses of the identified engineered solutions, and identify new options and alternatives for each outfall in response to site mission and facility changes. This report documents the efforts that have been completed over the past year in response to these commitments.

This manual covers the following hardware: Allen-Bradley 6008 -- SV VMEbus I/O scanner; Allen-Bradley universal I/O chassis 1771-A1B, -A2B, -A3B, and -A4B; Allen-Bradley power supply module 1771-P4S; Allen-Bradley 1771-ASB remote I/O adapter module; Allen-Bradley 1771-IFE analog input module; Allen-Bradley 1771-OFE analog output module; Allen-Bradley 1771-IG(D) TTL input module; Allen-Bradley 1771-OG(d) TTL output; Allen-Bradley 1771-IQ DC selectable input module; Allen-Bradley 1771-OW contact output module; Allen-Bradley 1771-IBD DC (10--30V) input module; Allen-Bradley 1771-OBD DC (10--60V) output module; Allen-Bradley 1771-IXE thermocouple/millivolt input module; and the Allen-Bradley 2705 RediPANEL push button module.

Progress is reported on research pertaining to insulated building blocks. Areas covered include coursing, the development of a stuffing machine, block fabrication, designs for earthquake testing, and sound tests.

With statistical analysis of global data from one, two and four stellarators, it is possible to draw limited conclusions whether Gyro- Bohm or Bohm scaling prevails. Either scaling may be favored, depending on whether corrections are included for possible {Beta} and v{sub *} corrections and whether all data are taken, or selected cases with low collisionality, or low net toroidal current, or with ECH heating applied, and so on. Monte Carlo-like simulations are used to test reliability of inferences about power-law scaling exponents made from data having substantial statistical variance and collinearity of control parameters. These show that for reliable conclusions, statistical studies should be augmented; more directed experimental studies are needed, with well controlled discharges and radially resolved data - such as those already begun on ATF and W7-AS.

Newsletter focusing on pecan disease and pest control in Texas, including prevention, identification, treatment, and educational opportunities.

Eagle Bend is an area located in a bend of the Clinch River about one mile southeast of Clinton, Tennessee, in Anderson County. This area, including an industrial park, is supplied electric power by the Clinton Utilities Board (UB) through its 69-kV system, which is in turn supplied by TVA over a 69-kV transmission line from Norris Hydro Plant. Studies of the power supply in the area indicate that there will likely be significant load growth both in the Clinton area in general and the industrial park in particular. Studies further show that if this new load is supplied at 69-kV, the TVA transformer at Norris Hydro which supplies this load will be overloaded by the summer of 1993 and no feasible alternate source which would maintain the quality and reliability of the power delivered to the Clinton system exists to accept this load. Clinton UB also needs to transfer load from its Clinton substation in the same time period to prevent overloading. Additional studies and consultation between TVA and Clinton UB have indicated that the best solution to this problem is to supply this load at 161-kV at a new delivery point for Clinton UB. This would require the …