AUSTRALIAN DATABASE HELPS IN CHEMICAL ACCIDENTS
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 JUL 19 (NB) -- A new networked database
system to reduce the risk of chemical accidents has been unveiled in
Australia. Emergency services in the state of New South Wales (NSW)
have started using the system and it is expected that other states
and overseas authorities will also purchase the package.

Known as SCID (Stored Chemical Information Services), the Aus$1M
system was developed by the NSW WorkCover Authority. The fire
brigade is already connected to the system and the Department of
Planning and Environment Protection Authority are expected to
connect soon.

The system runs on an 80486-based Compaq Prosignia server with
Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disk (RAID) technology. Another
server held by the fire brigade mirrors the entire system for
further redundancy. The two systems are connected by an Integrated
Services Digital Network (ISDN) link. Ten Compaq DeskPro/M computers
are used as workstations on a dedicated segment of the larger
WorkCover Novell-based local and wide-area network.

Under Australian law, any organization keeping dangerous materials
is required to have a license and this information has been used to
build the initial database. Licensees are required to continually
provide updated information and they can do this by written advice,
on diskette or via electronic mail.

The database not only keeps textual information but also site
sketches and plans. When an emergency occurs and the SCID system
flags that there are dangerous goods on or near the location, this
is transmitted to the fire appliance on the way to the emergency. In
the case of diagrams and maps, the information is faxed to the
vehicle. The system keeps a full run-down on all chemicals that
could be encountered, including toxicity, handling methods and first
aid treatment.

The system will be progressively expanded to allow refinements. For
instance, where random inspections of sites reveal work to be done,
this will be logged in the system and regular backup calls will be
scheduled for the inspectors.

(Paul Zucker/19930719/Contact: John Sampson at WorkCover on phone
+61-2-370 5693 or fax +61-2-370 5999)


TARTAN UPDATES ADA CROSS-COMPILER
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 19 (NB) -- Tartan, which
claims to be one of the leaders in providing advanced Ada language
compiler systems and utilities, has announced the release of Version
4.3 of its Ada cross-compilation system.

The package runs on Sun SPARC workstations and produces Ada-
compliant programs for VAX VMS, Intel i960, and IBM RS/6000 based
computers as well as TI C40 digital signal processors and the 68XXX
range of Motorola microprocessors.

According to the company, improvements to this latest version depend
on the specific computing platform used, but include added source-
level symbolic debugger capabilities in AdaScope, trial compilation,
and an extension of various important optimizations.

New programming tools include the Checksum utility which lets
users verify the correctness of target memory contents, and
AdaList, which generates an interspersed Ada source and assembly
code listing with both absolute and relative addresses of
individual object files and linked programs.

The company claims that AdaList alone will greatly contribute to
the maintainability, testability, and understandability of Ada
programming projects where testing normally takes up almost 80
percent of development time.

According to the company, all of the new Tartan cross-compilers have
been validated by the compliance committee tests (test suite 1.11)
showing that they are fully compatible Ada compilers.

The use of Ada, named after the first programmer, Ada Lovelace, is
mandated for many companies selling to the Department of Defense and
some NATO divisions. The language was developed in Europe and the
US specifically for military use, but is also a highly portable
general purpose programming language designed to re-use large
segments of previously created code.

Although companies have applied for Ada exemptions claiming that
the language is too difficult to use and too slow, actual tests
have often shown that it is highly efficient both in execution
and during development.

(John McCormick/19930719/Press Contact: Wayne Lieberman, Tartan,
412-856-3600 or fax 412-856-3636)


 ****LA FINGERPRINT SYS SAVES COUNTY $5.4M IN WELFARE FRAUD
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 21 (NB) -- One in
seven residents in Los Angeles County is on welfare, and welfare
fraud, or the same people getting duplicate assistance under
different names, is a big problem. However, a new electronic
fingerprinting system is keeping duplicate welfare applicants
off the rolls and has saved LA County over $5.4 million in the
first six months of operation.

Welfare fraud is a problem everywhere, but especially in the LA
area where the number of welfare recipients increases by 30
percent a year. Those ineligible for other programs can receive
just over $300 per month for housing and clothing under the
General Assistance program in LA County ($283 per month for
housing and a $9 a month clothing allowance distributed every six
months). The majority of recipients are homeless males and the
distribution of assistance is done on a month to month basis.

The tracking of these cases was done entirely by hand, until
the implementation of the Automated Fingerprint Image Reporting
and Match (AFIRM) system. The idea was originally generated in
1977 by Eddy Tanaka, director of the department of Public
Social Services for Los Angeles County, but county officials
said the delay in implementing the idea was simply a wait for
the technology to catch up to the concept. In 1990, the county
felt the technology was there and it put out a request for
bids. Sacramento, California-based EDS won the bid and the
system was first implemented in June of 1991.

It was necessary to have a fast system that could check the
applicant's identity in about five minutes. In this first non-
law enforcement application of fingerprinting, welfare
applicants simply place their index finger on an electronic
scanner which transmits fingerprint images into a computer and
matches them against a database of individuals already
receiving aid. If a match is confirmed, the application is denied.

To speed response, the AFIRM database was split across several
Hewlett-Packard workstations running X Windows that search
simultaneously. The custom client/server software written for
the system allowed the county to stay away from implementing
an expensive mainframe or minicomputer and the system can be
expanded and upgraded as the need arises.

Kurt Williams of EDS told Newsbytes the company also used
off-the-shelf components, including the fingerprint scanners,
to keep costs low.

The $5.4 million the county saved in the first six months of
operation is 56 percent of the cost of the system, according to
EDS. Over the next five years, the savings in reduced welfare
fraud will be an estimated $20 million.

LA County officials noticed a difference in the case load even
before the system was fully implemented. After piloting the
system in three of the county's 14 General Relief district
offices, numbers dropped from 150 applicants a day to 100
applicants per day. However, surrounding offices where AFIRM
had not yet been implemented had their applications jump
from 100 per day to 150 per day. Tanaka asked EDS to speed up
implementation of the system county-wide in order to thwart
individuals who were attempting to go around the fingerprinting
system.

Now that AFIRM has been implemented in all 14 General Relief
offices, the county is already planning a $17 million expansion
of the system to include its Aid to Families with Dependent
Children (AFDC) program as well, which is projected to see a 23
percent increase in case loads in the coming year. Adding the
AFDC roles means the system will expand from tracking 105,000
welfare recipients to nearly 400,000 and the number of offices
with fingerprinting capability will go from 14 to 38.

The system has the added advantage of cutting labor costs to
the department, because now clerks can be hired to fingerprint
applicants where trained welfare fraud investigators were
assigned previously.

Alameda County, with the third largest General Assistance case
load in the state, is following suit. By installing the AFIRM
system in its Hayward and Oakland offices Alameda county
estimates it can cut department costs by more than $300,000 in
the next five months.

Julie Caig, Alameda County's Program Manager for Information
Systems said: "If successful, we hope that other Bay Area
counties will join us so that fingerprint information can be
shared across county lines." San Francisco County is also
evaluating the system and two New York counties have
implemented similar systems. LA County representative Karol
Matsui said interest in the AFIRM system has been high and the
county has had inquiries from across the US and around the world.

With hard times upon California residents, the actual numbers
in the General Assistance program have increased, but the AFIRM
program helps maintain the intent of the assistance. "I think
the biggest plus of the AFIRM system is regaining the integrity
of the General Relief program. The system has weeded out
several thousand people who shouldn't have been on the rolls,"
Tanaka added.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930721/Press Contact: Carleen LeVasseur,
EDS, tel 916-264-1303, fax 916-442-2774; Karol Matsui, LA
County AFIRM, 310-908-8311)


