Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences was first conceived, published, and disseminated by the Center for Information and Numerical Data Analysis and Synthesis (CINDAS)* at Purdue University in 1957, starting its coverage of theses with the academic year 1955. Beginning with Volume 13, the printing and dis semination phases of the activity were transferred to University Microfilms/Xerox of Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the thought that such an arrangement would be more beneficial to the academic and general scientific and technical community. After five years of this jOint undertaking we had concluded that it was in the interest of all concerned if the printing and distribution of the volumes were handled by an international publishing house to assure improved service and broader dissemination. Hence, starting with Volume 18, Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences has been disseminated on a worldwide basis by Plenum Publishing Corporation of New York, and in the same year the coverage was broadened to include Canadian universities. All back issues can also be ordered from Plenum. We have reported in Volume 40 (thesis year 1995) a total of 10,746 thesis titles from 19 Canadian and 144 United States universities. We are sure that this broader base for these titles reported will greatly enhance the value of this impor tant annual reference work. While Volume 40 reports theses submitted in 1995, on occasion, certain uni versities do report theses submitted in previous years but not reported at the time.

This report develops a methodology for the impact of railroad abandonment on existing highways and bridges and application of the procedure to two case studies in Indiana. The indicated effects are in increased deterioration of some pavements and hence a required additional amount of resurfacing material and in increased emphasis on replacement of inadequate bridges and traffic congestion in some areas. A dollar effect of the additional resurfacing is calculated for the two case studies and emphasizes increased financial needs which railroad abandonment will have on rural highways in Indiana.

This Bureau of Mines study is intended to identify and evaluate potential effects of impending large-scale U.S. rail line closings (abandonment) on domestic nonfuel mineral industries. This is the first nationwide study of rail abandonment impacts focused on non-fuel minerals. The analysis presented is based principally on a survey of 200 rail freight records and on statistical tests that correlated 2,000 points in the Bureau's Mineral Industry Location System (MILS) with 700 prospective abandonments throughout the United States. The conclusions derived from the analysis can be useful in evaluating proposed national rail abandonment policy and legislation regarding non fuel mineral shipping. Among these conclusions are the following: (1) Certain mineral materials (especially fertilizers) are likely to account for a large percentage of the rail traffic affected by abandonment in the next few years, but the total tonnage involved will be small; (2) abandonment will adversely affect some mineral shippers, particularly local short haulers; and (3) abandonment could significantly reduce the opportunity to develop new resources or reopen defunct mining facilities. Despite these problems, however, the data examined in this study do not indicate that current abandonment trends will cause widespread disruption of domestic non fuel mineral shipping. (Out of print.).