Recent data on low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) and millisecond pulsars (MSPs) pose a challenge to evolutionary theories which neglect the effects of disk and comparison irradiation. Here we discuss the main features of a radiation-driven (RD) evolutionary model that may be applicable to several LMXBs. According to this model, radiation from the accreting compact star in LMXBs vaporizes'' the accretion disk and the companion star by driving a self-sustained mass loss until a sudden accretion-turn off occurs. The main characteristics of the RD-evolution are: (1) lifetime of RD-LMXB's is of order 10{sup 7} years or less; (2) both the orbital period gap and the X-ray luminosity may be consequences of RD-evolution of LMXB's containing lower main sequence and degeneration companion stars; (3) the companion star may transfer mass to the primary even if it underfills its Roche lobe; (4) a class of recycled MSPs can continue to vaporize the low-mass companions by a strong pulsar wind even after the accretion turn-off; (5) the RD-evolutionary model resolves the apparent statistical descrepancy between the number of MSPs and their LMXB progenitors in the Galaxy. We discuss the implications of the discovery of single MSPs in low-density globular clusters and the recent measurements …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on federally funded drug abuse treatment programs and activities for the federal judiciary, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Justice, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed federal agencies' assertions that certain private-sector regulatory concerns were, at least in part, attributable to underlying statutes, focusing on: (1) the amount of discretion the underlying statutes gave the rulemaking agencies in developing the regulatory requirements that the agencies had said were attributable to the underlying statutes; (2) whether the regulatory requirements at issue were within the authority granted by the underlying statutes; and (3) whether the rulemaking agencies could have developed regulatory approaches that would have been less burdensome to the regulated entities while still meeting the underlying statutory requirements."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO responded to concerns regarding its previous recommendations proposing that Department of Defense (DOD) pharmacy programs charge copayments for prescription drugs."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO updated its previous report on the estimate of the shortfall in U.S. contributions to the United Nations (U.N.)."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) efforts to improve the safety of meat and poultry products, focusing on whether: (1) the system adopted by USDA in its regulations is consistent with the seven Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles endorsed by the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods; (2) the HACCP training program for USDA inspectors is adequate and science-based; and (3) there is an adequate dispute resolution (appeals) process between plants and USDA under the new HACCP inspection system."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO assessed the effectiveness of information system general controls at the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Austin Automation Center (AAC)."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided suggestions for improving internal controls and operations at the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC). The suggestions are provided by KPMG LLP, an independent public accounting firm GAO contracted with to conduct the audit of ABMC's consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1998. GAO concurs with KPMG's suggestions."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new rule on regional haze regulations. GAO noted that: (1) the rule calls for states to establish goals and emission reduction strategies for improving visibility in all 156 mandatory Class I national parks and wilderness areas; (2) specific provisions are included in the rule allowing nine western states to implement the recommendations of the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission within the framework of the national regional haze program; and (3) EPA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the Department of Defense's (DOD) management and oversight of its animal research programs, focusing on the extent projects funded or performed by DOD utilizing animals: (1) were directed toward military objectives; (2) unnecessarily duplicated other research; and (3) incorporated alternatives that reduced, replaced, or refined the use of animals."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1) the status of competition in the subscription television market; (2) the extent to which ownership ties between cable companies and program suppliers may be affecting the development of competition; and (3) key factors that may influence the development of competition in the future."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Air Force's budget formulation process for its flying hour program for fiscal years (FY) 1997 through 1999, focusing on: (1) the extent to which the Air Force has flown the hours requested in its budget; (2) the process that the Air Force uses to determine flying hour requirements; (3) how the requirements and specific cost factors are used to develop the budget estimate for the flying hour program; and (4) program funding and obligations incurred in FY 1997 and FY 1998 and the reasons for the differences."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on households collecting Food Stamp benefits for persons disqualified for intentional program violations, focusing on: (1) how many individuals were included as members of food stamp households in four states while disqualified from the program in calendar year 1997 and estimated the value of the benefits that were improperly issued to those households; and (2) why these individuals were improperly included in households and what actions the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and state agencies could take to detect and prevent disqualified participation."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the progress being made in addressing the year 2000 computing challenge, focusing on: (1) the federal government's progress and the challenges that remain in correcting its systems; (2) state and local government year 2000 issues; and (3) the readiness of key public infrastructure."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Air Force's C-17 logistics support plan, focusing on the: (1) C-17's core logistics capabilities; (2) cost effectiveness of the planned support strategy; and (3) Air Force's implementation of the plan under current law."

In processing radioactive material there are certain steps which have customarily required operators working at glove box enclosures. This can subject the operators to low level radiation dosages and the risk of accidental contamination, as well as generate significant radioactive waste to accommodate the human interaction. An automated system is being developed to replace the operator at the glove box and thus remove the human from these risks, and minimize waste. Although most of the processing can be automated with very little human operator interaction, there are some tasks where intelligent intervention is necessary to adapt to unexpected circumstances and events. These activities will require that the operator be able to interact with the process using a remote manipulator in a manner as natural as if the operator were actually in the work cell. This robot-based remote manipulation system, or telerobot, must provide the operator with an effective means of controlling the robot arm, gripper and tools. This paper describes the effort in progress in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to achieve this capability. 8 refs.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Forest Service's progress in improving the reliability of its accounting and financial data."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the: (1) rationale for imposing per-beneficiary limits on Medicare's coverage of rehabilitation therapy services; and (2) effect of the therapy caps on Medicare beneficiaries' access to needed care."

This is an OTA resource analysis report.

A cigarette excise tax increase of 75 cents per pack has been proposed to finance part of the President's universal health care program. The tax enjoys considerable public support, would raise about $11 billion per year, and would be relatively simple to administer because it would increase an existing manufacturer's excise tax. This report discusses these rationales, as well as other effects of and concerns about the tax, organized into topics of market failure as a justification for the tax (i.e., economic efficiency); potential for revenue; equity; and the job loss the tax might cause in tobacco growing regions.

The Single Heater Test (SHT) is one of two in-situ thermal tests included in the site characterization program for the potential underground nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The heating phase of the SHT started in August 1996, and was completed in May 1997 after 9 months of heating. The coupled processes in the unsaturated fractured rock mass around the heater were monitored by numerous sensors for thermal, hydrological, mechanical and chemical data. In addition to passive monitoring, active testing of the rock mass moisture content was performed using geophysical methods and air injection testing. The extensive data set available from this test gives a unique opportunity to improve the understanding of the thermal-hydrological situation in the natural setting of the repository rocks. The present paper focuses on the 3-D numerical simulation of the thermal-hydrological processes in the SHT using TOUGH2. In the comparative analysis, they are particularly interested in the accuracy of different fracture-matrix-interaction concepts such as the Effective Continuum (ECM), the Dual Continuum (DKM), and the Multiple Interacting Continua (MINC) method.

On August 11, 1990 during an ornithological survey at the True/Mid Pacific Geothermal Venture proposed well site No.2, a Hawaiian hawk (Buteo solitarius) nest with a nestling was found approximately 430 feet from the proposed well pad clearing. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the State of Hawaii have listed the Hawaiian hawk as an endangered species. Future development in this area could be impacted by the presence of this endangered avian species and its nest in such close proximity to the proposed well site. This report summarizes the results of observations at the nest on August 12, 19 and 25 and September 2, 1990.

The meeting began with presentations by the facilitator, Mr. Spiegel, and the representative from DOE, Dr. Lewis. The facilitator introduced those on the podium. He then described the general structure of the meeting and its purpose: to hear the issues and concerns of those present regarding the proposed Hawaiian Geothermal Project. He described his role as assuring the impartiality and fairness of the meeting. Dr. Lewis of DOE further defined the scope of the project, introduced those of the EIS team present and briefly described the EIS process.

The Savannah River Site (SRS) teamed with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and ITT Flygt Corporation to conduct a test program evaluating shrouded axial propeller mixers (Flygt mixers) for heel removal in SRS Tank 19. SRS is identifying and investigating techniques to remove sludge heels from waste tanks such as Tank 19.