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)