Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), focusing on the impact of proposed Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) modifications on the: (1) confidentiality of information about the program; and (2) possible legal liability of members of the Network arising from their peer review activities."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the reasons why a Boeing report entitled Center Wing Fuel Tank Heating Study (also referred to as the Panama Study) dated March 14, 1980, was not provided to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to aid in its investigation of the 1996 Trans World Airlines (TWA) flight 800 crash until June 1999."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1) whether the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) systems can accurately account for and control inventory quantities; and (2) how FAA identifies and manages excess inventory quantities."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1) what reasons, if any, exist for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to report the taxable portion of annuity benefits for newly retired federal employees on the Form CSA 1099R (Statement of Annuity Paid); and (2) the feasibility of OPM's doing so."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, focusing on: (1) the problem areas that currently pose the greatest risk to the SSI program; (2) the Social Security Administration's (SSA) recent efforts to improve the SSI program; and (3) additional actions that should be taken."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed: (1) how women currently fare under social security; (2) how they might be affected by some of the proposed changes in benefits to restore solvency; and (3) how women might fare under a system restructured to include individual accounts."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the regulatory efforts to identify and mitigate risks to U.S. depository institutions' operations introduced by the growth in the use of Internet banking systems, focusing on: (1) the risks posed by Internet banking and the extent of any industrywide Internet banking problems; (2) how the five U.S. financial regulators track institutions' plans to provide Internet banking services; (3) how regulators have begun to examine Internet banking activities; and (4) the extent to which regulators have examined firms providing Internet banking support services to institutions."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed large bank holding company mergers and regulatory enforcement of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, focusing on the: (1) fair lending issues raid by consumer and community groups during the application process for six large bank holding company mergers; and (2) Federal Reserve Board's (FRB) consideration of those issues."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) implementation of federal export control regulations for International Space Station technology transfers, focusing on: (1) the licenses granted to NASA to export space station-related technology and commodities and plans to export encryption technology; (2) the results of internal and external assessments of NASA's export control program; and (3) NASA's actions to implement audit recommendations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the key elements of partnerships between the federal government and the private sector that were formed to help the government acquire and operate federal real estate and facilities more efficiently and effectively, focusing on the experiences of six federal partnerships formed by the: (1) National Park Service; (2) Department of Veterans Affairs (VA); and (3) Postal Service (USPS)."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the potential cost to decommission nuclear power plants and the implications of competition within the electricity industry, focusing on whether: (1) there is adequate assurance that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) licensees are accumulating sufficient funds for decommissioning; and (2) NRC is adequately addressing the effects of electricity deregulation on the funds that will eventually be needed for decommissioning."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed federal assessments--user fees, taxes, and other charges--levied on the commercial maritime industry, focusing on: (1) the federal agencies that levied assessments in fiscal year (FY) 1998 compared with FY 1991, the number of assessments levied, and the amounts they collected; (2) who pays the assessments and in which funds they were deposited in fiscal years 1991-1998; (3) new federal assessments that have been recently proposed; and (4) the status of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, and the projected annual balances of the fund."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed Indian self-determination contracting, focusing on the extent of, and reasons for, increases in contract support costs over the last several years and four alternatives for funding these costs."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Energy's (DOE) management of the Spallation Neutron Source Project, focusing on the: (1) project's cost and schedule; and (2) effectiveness of the collaborating laboratories' coordination."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the National Park Service's Recreational Fee Demonstration Program, focusing on the: (1) rate at which the Park Service spends revenue collected under the program in comparison with the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Forest Service; and (2) impact of the fee program on the Park Service's maintenance needs."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Housing Urban Development's (HUD) fiscal year (FY) 2000 budget request, focusing on: (1) new initiatives or significant increases proposed by HUD; and (2) observations about HUD's request for funding related to several areas GAO has reported on in the past year."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO discussed its fiscal year (FY) 2000 budget request."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) fiscal year (FY) 2000 budget request, focusing on: (1) whether HUD has the capacity to implement, and adequate justification to support, the new or significantly expanded programs and initiatives included in its budget request; (2) the potential for HUD to use available unexpended balances in some programs to reduce its need for new funding in other programs; and (3) whether HUD adequately justified its use of or requests for funds in the following five areas: (a) disaster assistance; (b) salaries and expenses; (c) Schedule C and non-career Senior Executive Service positions; (d) rural housing and economic development; and (e) international housing initiatives."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Financial Management Service's (FMS) internal controls over federal disbursements."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO conducted a comprehensive review of the report prepared by Donald T. Bucklin of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), focusing on identifying inaccurate statements found in the Bucklin Report. The Bucklin Report was prepared to assist HUD in its defense against an equal employment opportunity complaint filed by HUD's Deputy Assistant Inspector General."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO identified weaknesses in the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) personnel practices."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), focusing on: (1) how ATP determines that a delay in a project's progress would be a serious national economic concern; and (2) the number of ATP applications that have been rejected since July 1997 because a delay in progress would not be a serious national economic concern or because the applicants could probably find funding elsewhere."

Objective is to demonstrate the effectiveness of a catalytic membrane reactor (ceramic membrane combined with catalyst) to selectively produce methanol by partial oxidation of methane. None of the membranes tested in a high pressure system could selectively remove methanol, until a cooling tube was inserted inside the membrane reactor to quench the product stream; this effectively increased methanol selectivity 2[times] during methane oxidation. For both conditions, combined selectivity for methanol and CO is constant, 85%. The remaining product is CO[sub 2]. The membranes were broken when removed from the system; this was remedied when a cooling tube with a smaller diameter was used.

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.