A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on alleged misconduct by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees in their treatment of other IRS employees and taxpayers, focusing on: (1) the specific allegations made at the Senate Committee on Finance hearings; and (2) any underlying systemic or programmatic problems that need to be resolved to protect the rights of taxpayers and IRS employees."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on state and local public tax disclosure programs, focusing on: (1) which state and local governments are operating programs to publicly disclose the names of taxpayers that are delinquent in paying the income taxes they owe or do not file income tax returns; (2) the differences, if any, among these programs; and (3) state and local revenue office officials' views on whether their disclosure programs are improving compliance."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on: (1) the level of Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) accountability and control over its Housing Credit Assistance (HCA) program direct loan and loan sale activities: and (2) actions needed to improve VA's internal control environment and financial and budgetary reporting for these activities."

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 guidance the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration used to ensure that the recipients of grants and cooperative agreements for scientific research provide management controls over the equipment they acquire with federal funds; and (2) whether four NSF recipients from the Washington, D.C., area had acquired equipment under 14 awards of varying dollar amounts."

During the course of 9{degree} tapered side-bonding resistance upset weld development at Mound, various studies have been conducted to evaluate the effect of yield strength on welds in 304L stainless steel. The results of these studies have concluded that at high yield strengths there may be a minor reduction in the length of Class 2 or better bond. Satisfactory welds have been produced with materials having yield strengths ranging from 36.0 to 141.0 ksi. However, when body yield strengths exceed 80.0 ksi a minor decrease in bond lengths begins. A significant inverse relationship between stem yield strength and bond length was shown to exist. 8 refs., 9 figs., 10 tabs.

The long-range objective of this research program is the development of more efficacious technetium-99m radiopharmaceuticals for use as imaging agents in diagnostic nuclear medicine. We seek to isolate and develop distinct site imaging agents, each of which has properties optimized to provide diagnostic information concerning a given pathological condition. The specific objectives during the period (9/1/89 to 8/31/92) include: (1) Development of strategies for improving yields of specific Tc-diphosphonate complexes with optimum imaging properties; (2) Development of electrodes for rapid in situ electrochemical generation of skeletal imaging agents; (3) Development of electrochemical sensors for {Tc} and Re imaging agents; (4) Characterization of stable {Tc}- and Re-diphosphonate complexes obtainable in high yield by structural studies with techniques such as NMR, EXAFS, and Raman spectroscopy; (5) Development of improved separation techniques for the characterization of diphosphonate skeletal imaging agents; (6) Evaluation of the effect of the biological milieu on {Tc}-diphosphonate complexes; and (7) Electrochemical studies of technetium and rhenium complexes synthesized by Professor Deutsch's research group for heart and brain imaging.

Results from modeling of transformation toughening in brittle materials using a discrete micromechanical model are presented. The material is represented as a two-dimensional triangular array of nodes connected by elastic springs. Microstructural effects are included by varying the spring parameters for the bulk, grain boundaries, and transforming particles. Using the width of the damage zone and the effective compliance (after the initial creation of the damage zone) as measures of fracture toughness, we find that there is a strong dependence of toughness on the amount, size, and shape of the transforming particles, with the maximum toughness achieved with the higher amounts of the larger particles.

The two-hit resolution of a silicon drift chamber is measured using a pulsed Nd:Yag laser and a time digitizer readout. The data is analyzed by forming the covariance matrix in time samples, and transforming to a matrix in amplitude and time variation of each of the two hits. The resolution of the two-hit separation is found to be better than 25 microns with a drift field of 530 V/cm and a separation of more than 500 microns, with the resolution increasing to 50 microns as the separation nears 500 microns. Results are also presented for multiply ionizing tracks, showing a great improvement over single minimum ionizing. 8 refs.

I have investigated the effect of scattering in the rock overburden on the position and direction of atmospheric muons as observed at the Soudan 2 detector relative to the surface. The dominant contributions to the fluctuations in those observables arise from multiple Coulomb scattering and delta ray production. The contribution of the other energy loss mechanisms, bremsstrahlung, pair production and nuclear interactions, is small, with slowly increasing importance at very large deviations from the means of the distributions.

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the fiscal year (FY) 2000 budget request for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), focusing on: (1) INS' overall fiscal condition in FY 1999; and (2) how factors such as overhiring and a decline in Examinations Fee applications have affected INS' fiscal situation."

This fact sheet details changes in the committee system contained in H. Res. 6, Rules of the House for the 104th Congress.

This report reviews some of the concerns surrounding the environment work program and other environmental issues. It briefly describes work underway in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and current thinking underlying development of U.S. positions on trade and the environment in the GATT.

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the effect of near-field rock treatment by injection of reactive material (calcite) above the drift for the purpose of decreasing postclosure drift seepage. The method used for the calculation was a coupled reaction-transport numerical model for gas-water-rock interaction. This includes the mass conservation of heat, liquid and gas for thermohydrological calculations, of aqueous and gaseous species for advective and diffusive transport, and the kinetics of mineral-water reactions.

The experimental study of the water-rock interaction shows that the secondary mineral assemblage depends on the water composition. For example, granite-pure water interaction produces zeolites (relatively low-dense, Mg-poor minerals), whereas seawater yields chlorites (high-dense, Mg-rich minerals). The reactions have volumetric effects from several % to 20 % in magnitude. Volume deformations in the heterogeneous matrix cause uneven mechanical strains. Reactions with the effect of about 0,1 vol.% may cause strains of the order of 100-1000 bars being enough for destruction of rocks. Signs and magnitudes of local volume changes depend on the mineral composition of the secondary assemblage. Hence, one can provide either healing or cracking of primary fractures, as desired, by changing the composition of water in the water-felsic rock system where some elements (Mg, Fe) are in lack. The techniques of "chemical hydrofracturing" looks promising as applied to a granite HDR massif. One can regulate the permeability of fractured flow paths by changing in concord the composition and pressure of the injected water. This approach should promote efficient extraction of the petrothermal energy.

High surface electric fields have been obtained in the first tests of a superconducting rf quadrupole device. The rf quadrupole fields were generated between niobium vanes 6.5 cm in length, with an edge radius of 2 mm, and with a beam aperture of 6 mm diameter. In tests at 4.2 K, the 64 MHz device operated cw at peak surface electric fields of 128 MV/m. Virtually no electron loading was observed at fields below 100 MV/m. It was possible to operate at surface fields of 210 MV/m in pulses of 1 msec duration using a 2.5 kW rf source. For the vane geometry tested, more than 10 square centimeters of surface support a field greater than 90% of the peak field. The present result indicates that electric fields greater than 100 MV/m can be obtained over an appreciable area, sufficient for some accelerator applications. It also shows that superconducting rf technology may provide an extended range of options for rf quadrupole design. 7 refs., 4 figs.

Differential geometry provides a natural family of coordinate systems, the Frenet frame, in which to specify the geometric properties of magnet winding. By a modification of the Euler-Bernoulli thin rod model, the strain energy is defined with respect to this frame. Then it is minimized by a direct method from the calculus of variations. The mathematics, its implementation in a computer program, and some analysis of an SSC dipole by the program will be described. 16 refs.

The Nuclear Test and Experimental Science Program (NTES) has requested that the Laser Program design and price an upgrade to the Janus laser system (JANUS UPGRADE) capable of reliably delivering in excess of 200 joules per beamline in a range of pulse forms to three experiment areas. The facility is to have the following characteristics: three experiment areas, two high energy beams, each with 200--400 joule/1 ns at a wavelength of 1.053 or 1.064 microns, and 125--250 J/1 ns when frequency doubled, one probe beam (0.1 J rated at 30 ps) to be used for interferometry, and reliable operation. The proposed facility would occupy approximately 5600 ft{sup 2} and be located in the Bldg. 174 complex. A block diagram of the entire facility is shown in Fig. 1. The facility is further defined by the Work Breakdown Structure (also shown in Fig. 1). The main elements of the WBS are the conventional facility and modifications thereof (WBS 1), special equipment (WBS 2), the laser (WBS 3), the experiment areas (WBS 4), the controls and data acquisition system (WBS 5), and the project integration (WBS 6). The experiment area has three target chambers and uses diagnostic hardware now in Janus. 12 …

Recent studies of nuclear mass models show that it is essential to account for the Coulomb redistribution energy when calculating the nuclear potential energy in the heavy-element region. Results obtained by use of a mass model that includes Coulomb redistribution effects on analyzed. Q values of {alpha} and {beta} decay are calculated. Half-lives for {alpha} decay are estimated by use of the Viola-Seaborg systematics. For EC, {beta}{sup +} decay and {beta}{sup {minus}} decay, half-lives are calculated in a microscopic QRPA model. Calculated single-particle level structures in the heavy-element regions are presented. These indicate possible regions of isomers that would be unusually stable with respect to spontaneous fission and {alpha} decay. Finally, we discuss the implications of earlier extensive work on fission properties of nuclei in this region.

'With the increased sensitivity of waste-level measurements in the H-Area Tanks and with periods of isolation, when no mass transfer occurred for certain tanks, waste-level changes have been recorded with are unexplained.'

The propagation of a laser beam through atmospheric turbulence can, under many circumstances, be compensated to near diffraction limited levels, by use of an adaptive optics system. In the ideal case, a beacon light source is generated at the aimpoint. This light traverses through the turbulent path back to the aperture. The distribution of phase perturbations in the aperture plane is sensed, and the reverse of this phase is applied to the outgoing beam. When the turbulent path is long (i.e. a few hundred kilometers), and the effective wind speed is high (such as in the case when the laser is based on a plane, with airspeeds around 200 m/s), the performance of the adaptive optics system can be significantly degraded due to the time delay from when the beacon samples the turbulence, until the beam propagates through the turbulence. This effect has not been treated in the past, because for astronomical applications, the time delays due to the round trip of light are too short (tens of microseconds) to cause problems. This paper presents an analysis of the anisoplanatic effect of the round trip time of light. A formulation of the phase variance has been constructed for this effect. …

The objective is to develop and test various integrated solar heating, cooling and domestic hot water systems, and to evaluate their performance. Systems composed of new, as well as previously tested, components are carefully integrated so that effects of new components on system performance can be clearly delineated. The SEAL-DOE program includes six tasks which have received funding for the 1991--92 fifteen-month period. These include: (1) a project employing isothermal operation of air and liquid solar space heating systems; (2) a project to build and test several generic solar water heaters; (3) a project that will evaluate advanced solar domestic hot water components and concepts and integrate them into solar domestic hot water systems; (4) a liquid desiccant cooling system development project; (5) a project that will perform system modeling and analysis work on solid desiccant cooling systems research; and (6) a management task. The objectives and progress in each task are described in this report.

This progress report summarizes the accomplishment of the DOE-support research program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City for the period July 1, 1991--June 30, 1992. This is the second year of a three-year renewal. The major accomplishments for the year are: (a) Initiation of fundamental studies on the electronic properties of C{sub 60} and related crystals; (b) study of electronic structures and optical properties of several important ceramic crystals, especially on AlN, SiO{sub 2} and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}; (c) first-principles calculation of total energies and structural phase transitions in oxides, nitrides, and borides; (d) theory of magnetism in Nd{sub 2}Fe{sub 14}B permanent magnetic alloy. The major focus for the next year's effort will be on the following areas: (1) Continuation of the fundamental studies on the buckminsterfullerene system with particular emphasis on the alkali-doped superconducting fullerides. (2) Fundamental studies on the structure and properties of Boron and B-related compounds. (3) Basic studies on the structural and electronic properties of metallic glasses with particular emphasis on the magnetic glasses. (4) Further development of the first-principles OLCAO method for applications to super-complex systems.

Interest in interactive 3-D graphics has exploded of late, fueled by (a) the allure of using scientific visualization to go where no-one has gone before'' and (b) by the development of new input devices which overcome some of the limitations imposed in the past by technology, yet which may be ill-suited to the kinds of interaction required by researchers active in scientific visualization. To resolve this tension, we propose a flat 5-D'' environment in which 2-D graphics are augmented by exploiting multiple human sensory modalities using cheap, conventional hardware readily available with personal computers and workstations. We discuss how interactions basic to 3-D scientific visualization, like searching a solution space and comparing two such spaces, are effectively carried out in our environment. Finally, we describe 3DMOVE, an experimental microworld we have implemented to test out some of our ideas. 40 refs., 4 figs.

A series of experiments was conducted using SRL 165 synthetic waste glass to investigate the effects of surface preparation and leaching solution composition on the alteration of the glass. Samples of glass with as-cast surfaces produced smooth reaction layers and some evidence for precipitation of secondary phases from solution. Secondary phases were more abundant in samples reacted in deionized water than for those reacted in a silicate solution. Samples with saw-cut surfaces showed a large reduction in surface roughness after 7 days of reaction in either solution. Reaction in silicate solution for up to 91 days produced no further change in surface morphology, while reaction in DIW produced a spongy surface that formed the substrate for further surface layer development. The differences in the surface morphology of the samples may create microclimates that control the details of development of alteration layers on the glass; however, the concentrations of elements in leaching solutions show differences of 50% or less between samples prepared with different surface conditions for tests of a few months duration. 6 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab.