This paper describes the use of high-energy electron beam radiation to fabricate highperformance epoxy resin matrix composites. Employing catalytic amounts of diaryliodonium and triarylsulfonium salt photoinitiators, it was found that graphite fiber reinforced composites based on epoxy monomers could be efficiently e-beam cured at room temperature when exposed to e-beam irradiation. A mechanism involving the reduction of the onium salt initiators by e-beam induced free radicals has been proposed. Strong protonic acids generated during the course of this reaction initiate the cationic ring-opening polymerization of the epoxy resins. This chemistry was employed to fabricate high-performance carbon fiber reinforced composites. The mechanical properties of the composites were measured and effects of blends with other epoxy monomers and additional types of particulate fillers were evaluated using various testing methods.

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The economic justification for public expenditure is especially strong in the case of environmental management. Yet expenditures on environmental management have received little attention in public expenditure reviews by the World Bank and other international development organisations. An initial analysis of environmental expenditures in the Indonesian government budget between FY1994/95 and FY1998/99 yields four basic findings. First, most spending in the nominal environmental sector, sector 10 (Environment and Spatial Planning), is on non-environmental activities, and much environmental expenditure occurs in other budget sectors. Second, environmental expenditures fell sharply in real terms during the economic crisis, to levels far below those in FY94/95. Third, they also fell sharply relative to the budget and to GDP. Finally, environmental expenditures declined more in Indonesia during the economic crisis than in Malaysia, Thailand and Korea, relative to both the budget and GDP.

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