Tensions in the Taiwan Straits are prompting American policymakers to consider a range of measures that would demonstrate U.S. interests in Taiwan's security. President Clinton has ordered two U.S. carrier battle groups into the South China Sea, and Congress is considering legislation that would more forcefully express U.S. defense commitments to Taiwan.

This report has been compiled in response to numerous requests made by congressional offices for videotape copies of congressional proceedings and programs from network or cable television

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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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.

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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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.

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Use of funds collected as compensation by a prosecuting attorney under section 71.041, Family Code, which provides for costs to be assessed against a person who becomes the subject of a protective order as a result of having committed family violence (ID# 37366)

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Corpus Christi Regional Transit Authority may provide financial assisstance to an organization that provides emergency medical transportation services by helicopter (RQ-843)

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Texas Board of Health is authorized to adopt certain rules under the Medical Radiologic Technologist Certification Act, V.T.C.S. art. 4512m, and related questions (RQ-867)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a jail facility is subject to ad valorem taxes when a county occupies it for county purposes under a lease-purchase contract with a private entity (RQ-711)

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Orange County Commissioners Court must order payment in accordance with a district court order adjusting salaries of court administration personnel within the amount approved and budgeted (ID# 33340)

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution excepts a county commissioner from the common-law doctrine of incompatibility (request for reconsideration of Attorney General Opinion DM-311 (1994)) (ID# 31414)

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Constitutionality, as applied to independent and major party candidates, of the provisions of Election Code section 141.063(2)(B), which requires that a peititon filed in connection with a candidate's application for a place on the ballot contain each peition signer's voter registration number (ID# 35318)

The objective of this document is to propose a strategy for addressing applicable LDMM-related criteria in order to determine an allowable leakage volume for SSTs targeted for waste retrieval using sluicing. A strategy is required to work through the individual ALV criterion (and related issues) in a prioritized,orderly, and efficient manner. All components of the strategy are based upon LDMM-related issues, functions and requirements,and technology alternatives.

The ongoing advances in Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) are providing man-kind the freedom to travel to dimensional spaces never before conceivable. Advances include new fabrication processes, new materials, tailored modeling tools, new fabrication machines, systems integration, and more detailed studies of physics and surface chemistry as applied to the micro scale. In the ten years since its inauguration, MEMS technology is penetrating industries of automobile, healthcare, biotechnology, sports/entertainment, measurement systems, data storage, photonics/optics, computer, aerospace, precision instruments/robotics, and environment monitoring. It is projected that by the turn of the century, MEMS will impact every individual in the industrial world, totaling sales up to $14 billion (source: System Planning Corp.). MEMS programs in major universities have spawned up all over the United States, preparing the brain-power and expertise for the next wave of MEMS breakthroughs. It should be pointed out that although MEMS has been initiated by electrical engineering researchers through the involvement of IC fabrication techniques, today it has evolved such that it requires a totally multi-disciplinary team to develop useful devices. Mechanical engineers are especially crucial to the success of MEMS development, since 90% of the physical realm involved is mechanical. Mechanical engineers are needed for the design of MEMS, …

The Lee Hot Springs Project ({open_quotes}the Project{close_quotes}) will use binary cycle turbine-generators supplied by geothermal hot water to make electricity. Two clusters of three (3) 1,000 kilowatt ({open_quotes}kw{close_quotes}) projects, each cluster comprising a {open_quotes}plant,{close_quotes} will use the pumped output of one geothermal well. The plants will tie into Sierra Pacific Power Company`s ({open_quotes}Sierra`s{open_quotes}) transmission system. The Project objectives are designed to demonstrate that geothermal energy is a non-polluting, non-CO{sub 2} emitting form of generation, which if used in larger increments, will significantly reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses. The Project will also demonstrate the use of modular, {open_quotes}non-grid{close_quotes} or {open_quotes}village{close_quotes} units which can be used throughout the world where geothermal energy is present in remote locations and power is not. The Project was conceived as a 20,000 kw Qualifying Facility, divided into two phases, a 5,000 kw phase one followed by a 15,000 kw phase two. The first phase of the Project now consists of two (2) 3,000 kw plants to generate 6,000 kws.

Six different techniques were used to delineate 40 year old trench boundary at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Data from historical aerial photographs, a magnetic gradient survey, airborne multispectral and thermal infra-red imagery, seismic refraction, DC resistivity, and total field magnetometry were utilized in this process. Each data set indicated a southern and northern edge for the trench. Average locations and 95% confidence limits for each edge were determined along a survey line perpendicular to the trench. Trench edge locations were fairly consistent among all six techniques. Results from a modeling effort performed with the total magnetic field data was the least consistent. However, each method provided unique and complementary information, and the integration of all this information led to a more complete characterization of the trench boundaries and contents.

Recent DIII-D experiments with enhanced Scrape-off Layer (SOL) diagnostics permit detailed characterization of the SOL and divertor plasma under various operating conditions. We observe two distinct plasma modes: attached and detached divertor plasmas. Detached plasmas are characterized by plate temperatures of only 1 to 2 eV. Simulation of detached plasmas using the UEDGE code indicate that volume recombination and charge exchange play an important role in achieving detachment. When the power delivered to the plate is reduced by enhanced radiation to the point that recycled neutrals can no longer be efficiently ionized, the plate temperature drops from around 10 eV to 1-2 eV. The low temperature region extends further off the plate as the power continues to be reduced, and charge exchange processes remove momentum, reducing the plasma flow. Volume recombination becomes important when the plasma flow is reduced sufficiently to permit recombination to compete with flow to the plate.

The authors have developed an efficient method of remapping physical variables from one unstructured grid composed of arbitrary polygons to another, based on the work of Ramshaw and Dukowicz. Eulerian cycles are used to convert the mesh into a single chain of connected edge,s which eliminates grid searching. The error is second order in the zone size. The algorithm handles degenerate meshes well. Computational effort to perform a remap scales linearly with the number of zones in the two grids, which is an improvement over typical N log N methods.

The goal of this LDRD project is to provide theory for the LLNL ultra-short pulse laser experiments. The goal includes analysis of the experiments performed and help with planning new experiments. this final report we describe, the technical challenges we faced and he success we had with this project.

An Office of Inspector General Hotline allegation was received from an anonymous complainant regarding a July 1994 Martin Marietta Corporation Team`s health and safety review at three Department of Energy sites managed and operated by the then Martin Marietta Energy Systems. Inc. (Energy Systems), at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. We determined that the President of Energy Systems had requested a Corporate review at the three sites because of his concerns about safety incidents and accidents during the late Spring and early Summer of 1994. The Corporate Team`s charter was to determine if root causes existed for these safety incidents and accidents and to produce recommendations for the reduction or prevention of future safety incidents or accidents.

The LIDAR Thomson Scattering for Advanced Tokamaks project made a valuable contribution by combining LLNL expertise from the MFE Program: tokamak design and diagnostics, and the ICF Program and Physics Dept.: short-pulse lasers and fast streak cameras. This multidisciplinary group evaluated issues involved in achieving a factor of 20 higher high spatial resolution (to as small as 2-3 mm) from the present state of the art in LIDAR Thomson scattering, and developed conceptual designs to apply LIDAR Thomson scattering to three tokamaks: Upgraded divertor measurements in the existing DIII-D tokamak; Both core and divertor LIDAR Thomson scattering in the proposed (now cancelled) TPX; and core, edge, and divertor LIDAR Thomson scattering on the presently planned International Tokamak Experimental Reactor, ITER. Other issues were evaluated in addition to the time response required for a few millimeter spatial resolution. These include the optimum wavelength, 100 Hz operation of the laser and detectors, minimizing stray light - always the Achilles heel of Thomson scattering, and time dispersion in optics that could prevent good spatial resolution. Innovative features of our work included: custom short pulsed laser concepts to meet specific requirements, use of a prism spectrometer to maintain a constant optical path length for …

The goals of this project are to develop a catalyst and process for the conversion of syngas to isobutanol. The research will identify and optimize key catalyst and process characteristics. In addition, the commercial potential of the new process will be evaluated by an economic analysis. The effects of temperature, pressure and methanol/ethanol molar feed ratio on the performance of the 2% Pt on Zn/Mn/Zr Oxide catalyst has been evaluated in a series of pilot plant tests. Temperature has been varied from 325{degrees}C to 375{degrees}C, pressure from 30 psig to 300 psig and MeOH/EtOH ratio from 1 0/1 to 1 /1. Raising temperature increases alcohol conversion, but reduces selectivity and productivity to the desired branched C4 oxygenates. The higher pressure operation shifts the product ratio from isobutyraldehyde to isobutanol. Decreasing the feed ratio from 10/1 to 7/1 increases methanol conversion as well as selectivity to each of the iC4 oxygenates. However, further reduction of the feed ratio to 4/1 does not give additional improvement. Based on these findings a pilot plant test at optimized conditions is planned using the 2% Pt on Zn/Mn/Zr oxide catalyst. The effects of H{sub 2}, CO and CO{sub 2} co-feeds on the performance of the …

A feasibility study is presented of a 2 + 2 TeV muon collider with a luminosity of L = 10{sup 35} cm{sup {minus}2} s{sup {minus}1}. The resulting design is not optimized for performance, and certainly not for cost; however, it does suffice--the authors believe--to allow them to make a credible case, that a muon collider is a serious possibility for particle physics and, therefore, worthy of R and D support so that the reality of, and interest in, a muon collider can be better assayed. The goal of this support would be to completely assess the physics potential and to evaluate the cost and development of the necessary technology. The muon collider complex consists of components which first produce copious pions, then capture the pions and the resulting muons from their decay; this is followed by an ionization cooling channel to reduce the longitudinal and transverse emittance of the muon beam. The next stage is to accelerate the muons and, finally, inject them into a collider ring which has a small beta function at the colliding point. This is the first attempt at a point design and it will require further study and optimization. Experimental work will be needed to …

An automated x-ray-fission coincidence system was designed and constructed by LLNL and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) for use inside the Gammasphere high efficiency gamma-ray detector array at LBNL. The x-ray-fission coincidence apparatus detection station consists of two surface barrier detectors (for detection of fission fragments) and two high-purity Ge (HPGe) planar x-ray detectors (for measurement of x-rays and low-energy gamma rays). The detection station is placed inside Gammasphere at the 88-Inch Cyclotron at LBNL and used in conjunction with Gammasphere to measure the x-rays, low-energy gamma-rays and fission fragments resulting from the ECDF process. A series of collaborative experiment between LLNL, LBNL, and LANL utilizing various components of the x-ray-fission coincidence apparatus to measure x-rays and gamma-rays in the decay of a stationary {sup 252}Cf source were performed to test the various components of the x-ray-fission coincidence apparatus. The test experiments have been completed and the data is currently being analyzed by LBNL. Preliminary test results indicate that the system performed better than expected (e.g., the x-ray detectors performed better than expected with no evidence of microphonic noise that would reduce the photon energy resolution).

The Minnesota Wood Energy Scale-up Project began in late 1993 with the first trees planted in the spring of 1994. The purpose of the project is to track and monitor economic costs of planting, maintaining and monitoring larger scale commercial plantings. For 15 years, smaller scale research plantings of hybrid poplar have been used to screen for promising, high-yielding poplar clones. In this project 1000 acres of hybrid poplar trees were planted on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land near Alexandria, Minnesota in 1994. The fourteen landowners involved re-contracted with the CRP for five-year extensions of their existing 10-year contracts. These extended contracts will expire in 2001, when the plantings are 7 years old. The end use for the trees planted in the Minnesota Wood Energy Scale-up Project is undetermined. They will belong to the owner of the land on which they are planted. There are no current contracts in place for the wood these trees are projected to supply. The structure of the wood industry in the Minnesota has changed drastically over the past 5 years. Stumpage values for fiber have risen to more than $20 per cord in some areas raising the possibility that these trees could be used …