Search Results

open access

Aviation Security: TSA Is Taking Steps to Validate the Science Underlying Its Passenger Behavior Detection Program, but Efforts May Not Be Comprehensive

Description: Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The attempted passenger aircraft bombing of Northwest flight 253 on December 25, 2009, provided a vivid reminder that the civil aviation system remains an attractive terrorist target. To enhance aviation security, in October 2003 the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began testing of its Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) program to iden… more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Financial Management: Audit of the Senate Gift Shop Revolving Fund for Fiscal Year 2010

Description: Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In a letter dated July 22, 2010, Congress requested that we conduct an audit of the Senate Gift Shop's cash receipts and cash disbursements recorded in the Senate Gift Shop Revolving Fund for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2010. In the letter, Congress also requested that we review the inventory accounting procedures of the Gift Shop. The Senate Gift Shop was established on October 6, 1992, to sell … more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Financial Management: Audit of the Senate Stationery Room Revolving Fund for Fiscal Year 2010

Description: Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In a letter dated July 22, 2010, Congress requested that we conduct an audit of the Senate Stationery Room's cash receipts and cash disbursements recorded in the Senate Stationery Room Revolving Fund for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2010. In the letter, Congress also requested that we review the inventory accounting procedures of the Stationery Room. The Senate Stationery Room provides for the sal… more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Nursing Home Quality: Implementation of the Quality Indicator Survey

Description: Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the approach that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking to implement the Quality Indicator Survey (QIS) nationally. CMS developed the QIS--a new electronic process used to conduct nursing home inspections--to provide a more reliable assessment of the quality of care in nursing homes. Congress asked us to review the implementation of the QIS. As Congress reques… more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

2010 Census: Preliminary Lessons Learned Highlight the Need for Fundamental Reforms

Description: Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO added the 2010 Census to its list of high-risk programs in 2008 in part because of (1) long-standing weaknesses in the Census Bureau's (Bureau) information technology (IT) acquisition and contract management function, (2) difficulties in developing reliable life-cycle cost estimates, and (3) key operations that were not tested under operational conditions. These issues jeopardized the Bureau's readiness f… more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Federal Real Property: Progress Made on Planning and Data, but Unneeded Owned and Leased Facilities Remain

Description: Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government holds more than 45,000 underutilized properties that cost nearly $1.7 billion annually to operate, yet significant obstacles impede efforts to close, consolidate, or find other uses for them. In January 2003, GAO designated federal real property management as a high-risk area, in part because of the number and cost of these properties. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is respon… more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

State and Local Governments' Fiscal Outlook: April 2011 Update

Description: Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Fiscal sustainability presents a national challenge shared by all levels of government. Since 2007, GAO has published long-term fiscal simulations for the state and local government sector. These simulations show that, like the federal government, the state and local sector faces persistent and long-term fiscal pressures. Using the Bureau of Economic Analysis's National Income and Product Accounts… more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Ukraine: Current Issues and U.S. Policy

Description: This report discusses the current political and economic situation in Ukraine. Ukraine occupies the sensitive position between Russia and NATO member states Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania adds to its geostrategic significance. This report also discusses the U.S. policy in regard to Ukraine, U.S. aid to Ukraine, and other legislation.
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Woehrel, Steven
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Continuing Resolutions: Latest Action and Brief Overview of Recent Practices

Description: This report is divided into two segments. The first section provides the most recent information on the FY2011 continuing resolution (CR). The second segment focuses on the (1) history and recent trends, including the nature, scope, and duration of CRs during the past 35 years; (2) CR types by duration; (3) major substantive legislative provisions included in some CRs; and (4) funding gaps.
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Streeter, Sandy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Federal Agency Actions Following the Supreme Court’s Climate Change Decision: A Chronology

Description: This report presents a chronology of major federal agency actions related to environmental concerns following the decision of Massachusetts v. EPA; it particularly looks at actions of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court held that greenhouse gases (GHGs), widely viewed as contributing to climate change, constitute “air pollutants” as that phrase is used in the Clean Air Act (CAA).
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Meltz, Robert
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Funding Gaps and Government Shutdowns: CRS Experts

Description: This report is a table providing names and contact information for CRS (Congressional Research Service) experts on policy concerns relating to funding gaps and the processes and effects that may be associated with a government shutdown.
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Brass, Clinton T.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Asylum and “Credible Fear” Issues in U.S. Immigration Policy

Description: This report defines asylum seekers and looks at the background of asylum seekers in the U.S. since the 1980s. It discusses current issues, including inconsistent approval rates for asylum seekers across different regions and jurisdictions. It ends with a discussion of whether or not the policy (created during the Cold War) has adapted to the 21st century, and ways in directions that current law/new legislation could move to mitigate this issue.
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Wasem, Ruth Ellen
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Community Development Block Grants: Funding Issues in the 112th Congress and Recent Funding History

Description: This report discusses funding issues in the 112th Congress and recent funding history. The Administration's FY2012 budget proposes to: (1) increase funding for CDBG formula grants by 10.5% from $3.303 billion appropriated in FY2010 to $3.691 billion; (2) eliminate funding for the Neighborhood Initiative and Economic Development Initiative programs; (3) eliminate funding for Section 107 activities; (4) transfer its Sustainable Communities Initiative to a new stand alone account; and (5) convert … more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Boyd, Eugene
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Privacy Protections for Personal Information Online

Description: This report examines some of the efforts being made to protect of personal information, through federal laws and regulations. This report provides a brief overview of selected recent developments in the area of federal privacy law. This report does not cover workplace privacy laws or state privacy laws.
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Stevens, Gina
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The Products of the Thermal Decomposition of CH3CHO

Description: We have used a heated 2 cm x 1 mm SiC microtubular (mu tubular) reactor to decompose acetaldehyde: CH3CHO + DELTA --> products. Thermal decomposition is followed at pressures of 75 - 150 Torr and at temperatures up to 1700 K, conditions that correspond to residence times of roughly 50 - 100 mu sec in the mu tubular reactor. The acetaldehyde decomposition products are identified by two independent techniques: VUV photoionization mass spectroscopy (PIMS) and infrared (IR) absorption spectrosco… more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Vasiliou, AnGayle; Piech, Krzysztof M.; Zhang, Xu; Nimlos, Mark R.; Ahmed, Musahid; Golan, Amir et al.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Hybrid Plasma Reactor/Filter for Transportable Collective Protection Systems

Description: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has performed an assessment of a Hybrid Plasma/Filter system as an alternative to conventional methods for collective protection. The key premise of the hybrid system is to couple a nonthermal plasma (NTP) reactor with reactive adsorption to provide a broader envelope of protection than can be provided through a single-solution approach. The first step uses highly reactive species (e.g. oxygen radicals, hydroxyl radicals, etc.) created in a nontherma… more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Josephson, Gary B.; Tonkyn, Russell G.; Frye, J. G.; Riley, Brian J. & Rappe, Kenneth G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Optical modeling of Fresnel zoneplate microscopes

Description: Defect free masks remain one of the most significant challenges facing the commercialization of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. Progress on this front requires high-performance wavelength-specific metrology of EUV masks, including high-resolution and aerial-image microscopy performed near the 13.5 nm wavelength. Arguably the most cost-effective and rapid path to proliferating this capability is through the development of Fresnel zoneplate-based microscopes. Given the relative obscurity o… more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Naulleau, Patrick; Mochi, Iacopo & Goldberg, Kenneth A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Composite Solar Cells for Efficient, Low Cost, Photoelectric Energy Conversion

Description: Cadmium selenide nanoparticles and nanoclusters were prepared and added to polymer solar cells to improve their photon capture ability. These nanoparticles did exhibit some beneficial effects on the photon conversion efficiencies of selected polymer solar cells. Ternary bulk heterojunction systems based on composites of methyl viologen-doped, CdSe nanoparticles blended with poly (3-hexothiopene) (P3HT) and 6, 6-phenyl C{sub 61}-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) were also tested. It was found tha… more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Adams, Richard D.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Neutron source capability assessment for cumulative fission yields measurements

Description: A recent analysis of high-quality cumulative fission yields data for Pu-239 published in the peer-reviewed literature showed that the quoted experimental uncertainties do not allow a clear statement on how the fission yields vary as a function of energy. [Prussin2009] To make such a statement requires a set of experiments with well 'controlled' and understood sources of experimental errors to reduce uncertainties as low as possible, ideally in the 1 to 2% range. The Inter Laboratory Working Gro… more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Descalle, M A; Dekin, W & Kenneally, J
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Covert Action: Legislative Background and Possible Policy Questions

Description: This report discusses the Department of Defense's (DOD) various counter-terrorist intelligence activities, whether or not they constitute classification as "covert action," and the challenge of clarifying the roles and responsibilities of various intelligence activities with regard to clandestine activities. It also examines the statutory procedures governing covert action and associated questions to consider.
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Cumming, Alfred
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Sensitive Covert Action Notifications: Oversight Options for Congress

Description: Legislation enacted in 1980 gave the executive branch authority to limit advance notification of especially-sensitive covert actions to eight Members of Congress (called the "Gang of Eight") when the President determines that it is essential to limit prior notice in order to meet extraordinary circumstances affecting U.S. vital interests. This report describes the statutory provision authorizing Gang of Eight notifications, reviews the legislative history of the provision, and examines the impa… more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Cumming, Alfred
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Afghanistan Casualties: Military Forces and Civilians

Description: This report collects statistics from a variety of sources on casualties sustained during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), which began on October 7, 2001, and is ongoing. OEF actions take place primarily in Afghanistan; however, OEF casualties also includes American casualties in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Guantanamo Bay (Cuba), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines, Seychelles, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Yemen.
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Chesser, Susan G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Surface Currents and Winds at the Delaware Bay Mouth

Description: Knowledge of the circulation of estuaries and adjacent shelf waters has relied on hydrographic measurements, moorings, and local wind observations usually removed from the region of interest. Although these observations are certainly sufficient to identify major characteristics, they lack both spatial resolution and temporal coverage. High resolution synoptic observations are required to identify important coastal processes at smaller scales. Long observation periods are needed to properly samp… more
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Muscarella, P A; Barton, N P; Lipphardt, B L; Veron, D E; Wong, K C & Kirwan, A D
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Back to Top of Screen