The U.S. Federal Reserve reportedly has an arrangement with the Bank of Japan to provide emergency loans to Japanese banks operating overseas in exchange for U.S. Treasury securities. The collateralized loans would be extended on short notice for banks facing emergency liquidity needs. The purpose of the arrangement is to forestall the possible sale by Japanese banks of large amounts of U.S. Government securities (thereby raising U.S. interest rates) and to boost confidence in Japan's financial system. The loans would not risk U.S. taxpayers' funds. The Chairmen of both House and Senate Banking Committees have made statements about the arrangement, thus making it a matter oflegislative interest.

Under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), eight rounds of trade negotiations lowered tariffs of developed countries to an average 3.9 percent. New areas, such as services, intellectual property rights, agriculture, and textiles and apparel, were brought under the discipline of the GATT for the first time in the Uruguay Round. The World Trade Organization (WTO), a permanent entity agreed on during the Uruguay Round, went into effect January 1, 1995. Multilateral trade issues for the future include continuing services negotiations, the relationship of the environment and labor standards to trade, and investment and competition policy.

The House Subcommittee on Technology, Environment, and Aviation of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (103rd Congress) requested that Congressional Research Service (CRS) hold a workshop on the tools and techniques of ecosystem management. The purposes of this workshop were to demonstrate tools and techniques used in scientific research on ecosystems and to address technological aspects of developing and administering a national policy for ecosystem management.

In 1993, the Clinton Administration proposed eliminating many natural resource "subsidies" and increasing fees for many Federal services. Among the proposals advanced were increases in existing grazing and recreation fees and new mining and commercial fishing fees. Other proposals would have affected timber sales and water deliveries from Federal projects. Many of these proposals have been advanced by fiscal conservatives in the 104th Congress to reduce the Federal budget deficit.

The House Subcommittee on Technology, Environment, and Aviation of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (103rd Congress) requested that Congressional Research Service (CRS) hold a workshop on the tools and techniques of ecosystem management. The purposes of this workshop were to demonstrate tools and techniques used in scientific research on ecosystems and to address technological aspects of developing and administering a national policy for ecosystem management.

The Uruguay Round Agreement reduced tariffs, brought services, intellectual property, and agriculture under the discipline of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and established the World Trade Organization. Multilateral trade issues for the future include continuing services negotiations, the relationship of the environment and labor standards to trade, and investment and competition policy.

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.

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.

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 an expanded county civil service system established under Local Government Code section 158.007 covers sheriff’s and constable’s deputies when the sheriff’s department has not established a separate civil service system under chapter 158, subchapter B, and whether a county civil service system has authority to adopt subpoena power (RQ-342)

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;Law enforcement authority of agents of a water district who are not peace officers(RQ-575).

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 municipal registration fees for state licensed air conditioning and refrigeration contractors (ID# 26247)

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 a county attorney may simultaneously serve as a member of the board of trustees of an independent school district in the same county (ID# 26341)

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) contains the most extensive verification inspection provision of any arms control agreement in history. Among its innovations are provisions for facility agreements to govern on-site verification inspections of certain facilities. A facility agreement is an agreement or arrangement between a State Party and the Organization [for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] relating to a specific facility subject to on-site verification pursuant to Articles 4, 5 and 6. The purpose of this very brief paper is to discuss the value of specificity in the model facility agreements that are to serve as the basis for facility agreements. The views expressed herein are those of the author alone, and not necessarily those of the government of the US of America or any other institution. The model facility agreements are a key document to national implementation of the CWC. As explained in the Manual for National Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, facility agreements are among the important protections the CWC provides for confidential business information at facilities subject to CWC inspections. Thus, the structure of the models for these agreements will fundamentally determine how national implementation of the Convention will affect various private firms. A particularly salient …

The (NGM) Natural Gas Monthly highlights activities, events, and analyses of interest to public and private sector organizations associated with the natural gas industry. Volume and price data are presented each month for natural gas production, distribution, consumption, and interstate pipeline activities. Producer-related activities and underground storage data are also reported. From time to time, the NGM features articles designed to assist readers in using and interpreting natural gas information.

The authors have developed stimulated dual-band infrared (IR) computed tomography as a tool to inspect the aging infrastructure. The system has the potential to locate and quantify structural damage within airframes and bridge decks. Typically, dual-band IR detection methods improve the signal-to-noise ratio by a factor of ten, compared to single-band IR detection methods. They conducted a demonstration at Boeing using a uniform pulsed-heat source to stimulate IR images of hidden defects in the 727 fuselage. The dual-band IR camera and image processing system produced temperature, thermal inertia, and cooling-rate maps. In combination, these maps characterized the defect site, size, depth, thickness and type. The authors quantified the percent metal loss from corrosion above a threshold of 5%, with overall uncertainties of 3%. Also, they conducted a feasibility study of dual-band IR thermal imaging for bridge deck inspections. They determined the sites and relative concrete displacement of 2-in. and 4-in. deep delaminations from thin styrofoam implants in asphalt-covered concrete slabs. They demonstrated the value of dual-band IR computed tomography to quantify structural damage within flash-heated airframes and naturally-heated bridge decks.

In this paper, a linearized four wheel steering (4WS) system model is deduced and then modified into a form which is appropriate for applying Matlab {mu} Toolbox to design robust controller. Several important topics are discussed in detail, such as (1) how to make system set-up match Matlab {mu} Toolbox requirement, (2) how to select weights based on plant`s uncertainty, (3) how to solve controller discretization problem, and (4) how to adjust the system so that the conditions necessary for using a state-space formula to solve H{infinity} optimal (sub-optimal) problem and performing the Matlab {mu} Toolbox D--K iteration procedure are satisfied. Finally simulation results of robust controller and a PID controller are compared.

Experimental evidence for the acceleration of electrons in a relativistic plasma wave generated by Raman forward scattering (SRS-F) of a single-frequency short pulse laser are presented. A 1.053 {mu}m, 600 fsec, 5 TW laser was focused into a gas jet with a peak intensity of 8{times}10{sup 17} W/cm{sup 2}. At a plasma density of 2{times}10{sup 19} cm{sup {minus}3}, 2 MeV electrons were detected and their appearance was correlated with the anti-Stokes laser sideband generated by SRS-F. The results are in good agreement with 2-D PIC simulations. The use of short pulse lasers for making ultra-high gradient accelerators is explored.

We argue that many of the features of the plastic flow behavior of tantalum can be described by a model that incorporates a two-component Peierls-type mechanism and an fcc-like obstacle mechanism in series. We compare the results of calculations based on such a model with flow data for unalloyed tantalum over a wide range of strain rates and a modest range of temperatures.

Radioactive high level wastes (HLW) generated from production of special nuclear materials at the Savannah River Site (SRS) are held in interim storage in 51 underground, million gallon tanks. Radioactive cesium ({sup 137}Cs) is segregated by evaporation of aqueous waste solution for interim storage in a salt matrix comprised of Na and K salts or in concentrated salt solution. The saltcake will be dissolved and {sup 137}Cs will be separated from the nonradioactive salts in solution in the In-Tank Precipitation (ITP) Process. The cesium will be combined with other radioactive species and glass formers to be melted and poured into stainless steel canisters in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). The salt solution remaining after decontamination in the ITP process will be incorporated into grout for disposal at the site`s Saltstone facility. In the ITP facility, sodium tetraphenylborate (STPB) will be added to precipitate the cesium. Potassium in the waste solution also reacts with STPB and precipitates. Due to radiolytic and chemical degradation of the tetraphenylborate (TPB) precipitate, benzene is generated. The benzene dissolves into the decontaminated salt solution (DSS) and into water (WW) used to {open_quotes}wash{close_quotes} the precipitate to lower the soluble salt content of the slurry. Safety and …

The Petroleum Supply Monthly (PSM) is one of a family of four publications produced by the Petroleum Supply Division within the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reflecting different levels of data timeliness and completeness. The other publications are the Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR), the Winter Fuels Report, and the Petroleum Supply Annual (PSA). Data presented in the PSM describe the supply and disposition of petroleum products in the United States and major US geographic regions. The data series describe production, imports and exports, inter-Petroleum Administration for Defense (PAD) District movements, and inventories by the primary suppliers of petroleum products in the United States (50 States and the District of Columbia). The reporting universe includes those petroleum sectors in primary supply. Included are: petroleum refiners, motor gasoline blenders, operators of natural gas processing plants and fractionators, inter-PAD transporters, importers, and major inventory holders of petroleum products and crude oil. When aggregated, the data reported by these sectors approximately represent the consumption of petroleum products in the United States. Data presented in the PSM are divided into two sections: Summary Statistics and Detailed Statistics.

The main focus of the Ames Laboratory`s Technology Integration Program, TIP, from May 1991 through December 1994 was the development, fabrication, and demonstration of a mobile instrumentation laboratory incorporating rapid in situ sampling systems for safe, rapid, and cost effective soil screening/characterization. The Mobile Demonstration Laboratory for Environmental Screening Technologies, MDLEST, containing the analysis instrumentation, along with surface and subsurface sampling probe prototypes employing the laser ablation sampling technique were chosen to satisfy the particular surface and subsurface soil characterization needs of the various Department of Energy facilities for determining the extent of heavy metal and radionuclide contamination. The MDLEST, a 44 foot long 5th wheel trailer, is easily configured for the analysis instrumentation and sampling system required for the particular site work. This mobile laboratory contains all of the utilities needed to satisfy the operating requirements of the various instrumentation installed. These utilities include, an electric generator, a chilled water system, process gases, a heating/air conditioning system, and computer monitoring and automatic operating systems. Once the MDLEST arrives at the job site, the instrumentation is aligned and calibration is completed, sampling and analysis operations begin. The sample is acquired, analyzed and the results reported in as little as 10 …

At this time, the Office of Fissile Materials Disposition within the DOE, is assessing alternatives for the disposition of excess fissile materials. To facilitate the assessment, the Plutonium-Bearing Materials Feed Report for the DOE Fissile Materials Disposition Program Alternatives report was written. The development of the material categories and the derivation of the inventory quantities associated with those categories is documented in this report.

This publication contains the 1994 survey results of the ``Annual Fuel Oil and Kerosene Sales Report`` (Form EIA-821). This is the sixth year that the survey data have appeared in a separate publication. Prior to the 1989 report, the statistics appeared in the Petroleum Marketing Annual (PMA)for reference year 1988 and the Petroleum Marketing Monthly (PMM) for reference years 1984 through 1987. The 1994 edition marks the 11th annual presentation of the results of the ongoing ``Annual Fuel Oil and Kerosene Sales Report`` survey. Distillate and residual fuel oil sales continued to move in opposite directions during 1994. Distillate sales rose for the third year in a row, due to a growing economy. Residual fuel oil sales, on the other hand, declined for the sixth year in a row, due to competitive natural gas prices, and a warmer heating season than in 1993. Distillate fuel oil sales increased 4.4 percent while residual fuel oil sales declined 1.6 percent. Kerosene sales decreased 1.4 percent in 1994.