Advocacy for the Archives and History Office of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory: Stages and Methods (open access)

Advocacy for the Archives and History Office of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory: Stages and Methods

Advocating for the good of the SLAC Archives and History Office (AHO) has not been a one-time affair, nor has it been a one-method procedure. It has required taking time to ascertain the current and perhaps predict the future climate of the Laboratory, and it has required developing and implementing a portfolio of approaches to the goal of building a stronger archive program by strengthening and appropriately expanding its resources. Among the successful tools in the AHO advocacy portfolio, the Archives Program Review Committee has been the most visible. The Committee and the role it serves as well as other formal and informal advocacy efforts are the focus of this case study My remarks today will begin with a brief introduction to advocacy and outreach as I understand them, and with a description of the Archives and History Office's efforts to understand and work within the corporate culture of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. I will then share with you some of the tools we have employed to advocate for the Archives and History Office programs and activities; and finally, I will talk about how well - or badly - those tools have served us over the past decade.
Date: June 19, 2009
Creator: Deken, Jean Marie
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
81st Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 3756, Chapter 983 (open access)

81st Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 3756, Chapter 983

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Date: June 19, 2009
Creator: Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives.
Object Type: Legislative Document
System: The Portal to Texas History
Security Classification Policy and Procedure: E.O. 12958, as Amended (open access)

Security Classification Policy and Procedure: E.O. 12958, as Amended

This report describes security classification policy and procedure, largely prescribed in a series of successive presidential executive orders issued over the past 50 years. This policy provides the rationale and arrangements for designating information officially secret for reasons of national security, and for its declassification as well.
Date: June 4, 2009
Creator: Kosar, Kevin R.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Stress Testing and Shoring Up Bank Capital (open access)

Stress Testing and Shoring Up Bank Capital

June report of the U.S. Congressional Oversight Panel describing their activities and findings regarding the stress testing of banks by federal banking regulators to examine the ability of banks to continue operations in a weaker than expected economic environment.
Date: June 9, 2009
Creator: United States. Congressional Oversight Panel.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The President's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP): Issues for Congress (open access)

The President's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP): Issues for Congress

This report discusses the role of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), including an overview of the history of science and technology advice to the President, issues and options for Congress regarding (OSTP) Director, OSTP management and operations, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). The report also discusses actions taken by the Obama Administration regarding OSTP.
Date: June 3, 2009
Creator: Stine, Deborah D.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Israeli-Arab Negotiations: Background, Conflicts, and U.S. Policy (open access)

Israeli-Arab Negotiations: Background, Conflicts, and U.S. Policy

This report discusses issues related to peace in the Middle East, including post-Gulf War negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon; U.S. interest in these and continuing negotiations and peacetalks between Middle Eastern countries; and the role of the U.S., the U.N., the European Union, and Russia in Middle Eastern relations.
Date: June 9, 2009
Creator: Migdalovitz, Carol
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Food abundance does not determine bird use of early-successional habitat. (open access)

Food abundance does not determine bird use of early-successional habitat.

Abstract. Few attempts have been made to experimentally address the extent to which temporal or spatial variation in food availability influences avian habitat use. We used an experimental approach to investigate whether bird use differed between treated (arthropods reduced through insecticide application) and control (untreated) forest canopy gaps within a bottomland hardwood forest in the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina, USA. Gaps were two- to three-year-old group selection timber harvest openings of three sizes (0.13, 0.26, and 0.50 ha). Our study was conducted during four bird use periods (spring migration, breeding, post-breeding, and fall migration) in 2002 and 2003. Arthropods were reduced in treated gaps by 68% in 2002 and 73% in 2003. We used mist-netting captures and foraging attack rates to assess the influence of arthropod abundance on avian habitat use. Evidence that birds responded to arthropod abundance was limited and inconsistent. In 2002, we generally captured more birds in treated gaps of the smallest size (0.13 ha) and fewer birds in treated gaps of the larger sizes. In 2003, we recorded few differences in the number of captures in treated and control gaps. Foraging attack rates generally were lower in treated than in control gaps, indicating that …
Date: June 1, 2009
Creator: Champlin, Tracey B.; Kilgo, John C. & Moorman, Christopher E.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Texas Register, Volume 34, Number 26, Pages 4231-4380, June 26, 2009 (open access)

Texas Register, Volume 34, Number 26, Pages 4231-4380, June 26, 2009

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.
Date: June 26, 2009
Creator: Texas. Secretary of State.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Identity Theft: Governments Have Acted to Protect Personally Identifiable Information, but Vulnerabilities Remain (open access)

Identity Theft: Governments Have Acted to Protect Personally Identifiable Information, but Vulnerabilities Remain

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The loss of personally identifiable information, such as an individual's Social Security number, name, and date of birth can result in serious harm, including identity theft. Identity theft is a serious crime that impacts millions of individuals each year. Identity theft occurs when such information is used without authorization to commit fraud or other crimes. While progress has been made protecting personally identifiable information in the public and private sectors, challenges remain. GAO was asked to testify on how the loss of personally identifiable information contributes to identity theft. This testimony summarizes (1) the problem of identity theft; (2) steps taken at the federal, state, and local level to prevent potential identity theft; and (3) vulnerabilities that remain to protecting personally identifiable information, including in federal information systems. For this testimony, GAO relied primarily on information from prior reports and testimonies that address public and private sector use of personally identifiable information, as well as federal, state, and local efforts to protect the security of such information. GAO and agency inspectors general have made numerous recommendations to agencies to resolve prior significant information control deficiencies and information security …
Date: June 17, 2009
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Grants-In-Aid: An Historical Perspective on Contemporary Issues (open access)

Federal Grants-In-Aid: An Historical Perspective on Contemporary Issues

This report provides an historical synopsis of the evolving nature of federal grant-in-aid programs, focusing on the role Congress has played in defining the scope and nature of those programs. It begins with an overview of contemporary federal grant-in-aid programs and then examines their evolution over time, focusing on the internal and external factors that have influenced congressional decisions concerning federal grant-in-aid programs. It concludes with an assessment of the scope and nature of the contemporary federal grants-in-aid system and raises several issues for congressional consideration, including possible ways to augment congressional capacity to provide effective oversight of this system.
Date: June 15, 2009
Creator: Dilger, Robert Jay
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
81st Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 962, Chapter 336 (open access)

81st Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 962, Chapter 336

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the purchase of library goods and services by public junior colleges.
Date: June 19, 2009
Creator: Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives.
Object Type: Legislative Document
System: The Portal to Texas History
81st Texas Legislature, Senate Bill 698, Chapter 756 (open access)

81st Texas Legislature, Senate Bill 698, Chapter 756

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the establishment of a registry at the Texas Department of Insurance of certain legal entities alleged to have sold race-based insurance coverage.
Date: June 19, 2009
Creator: Texas. Legislature. Senate.
Object Type: Legislative Document
System: The Portal to Texas History
Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA): What Is It, and How Has It Been Utilized? (open access)

Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA): What Is It, and How Has It Been Utilized?

Multilateral and bilateral agreements addressing the status of U.S. armed forces abroad are commonly referred to as Status of Force Agreements (SOFAs). SOFAs establish the framework under which military personnel operate in a foreign country. The United States is currently party to more than 100 agreements that may be considered SOFAs. A list of current agreements included at the end of this report is categorized in tables according to the underlying source of authority, if any, for each of the SOFAs.
Date: June 18, 2009
Creator: Mason, R. Chuck
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
81st Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 4586, Chapter 1409 (open access)

81st Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 4586, Chapter 1409

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to making supplemental appropriations and reductions in appropriations and giving direction and adjustment authority and prescribing limitations regarding appropriations.
Date: June 19, 2009
Creator: Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives.
Object Type: Legislative Document
System: The Portal to Texas History
81st Texas Legislature, Senate Bill1, Chapter 1424 (open access)

81st Texas Legislature, Senate Bill1, Chapter 1424

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to General Appropriations Bill.
Date: June 19, 2009
Creator: Texas. Legislature. Senate.
Object Type: Legislative Document
System: The Portal to Texas History
Congressional Oversight and Related Issues Concerning International Security Agreements Concluded by the United States (open access)

Congressional Oversight and Related Issues Concerning International Security Agreements Concluded by the United States

This report begins by providing a general background on the types of international agreements that are binding upon the United States, as well as considerations affecting whether they take the form of a treaty or an executive agreement. Next, the report discusses historical precedents as to the role that security agreements have taken. The report discusses the oversight role that Congress exercises with respect to entering and implementing international agreements involving the United States.
Date: June 2, 2009
Creator: Garcia, Michael J. & Mason, R. C.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Audit Report on Performance Measures at the School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (open access)

An Audit Report on Performance Measures at the School for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether the School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (School) accurately reported key performance measures to ABEST and had adequate control systems in place over the collecting, calculating, and reporting of key performance measures.
Date: June 2009
Creator: Texas. Office of the State Auditor.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Preliminary Findings from an Analysis of Building Energy Information System Technologies (open access)

Preliminary Findings from an Analysis of Building Energy Information System Technologies

Energy information systems comprise software, data acquisition hardware, and communication systems that are intended to provide energy information to building energy and facilities managers, financial managers, and utilities. This technology has been commercially available for over a decade, however recent advances in Internet and other information technology, and analytical features have expanded the number of product options that are available. For example, features such as green house gas tracking, configurable energy analyses and enhanced interoperability are becoming increasingly common. Energy information systems are used in a variety of commercial buildings operations and environments, and can be characterized in a number of ways. Basic elements of these systems include web-based energy monitoring, web-based energy management linked to controls, demand response, and enterprise energy management applications. However the sheer number and variety of available systems complicate the selection of products to match the needs of a given user. In response, a framework was developed to define the capabilities of different types of energy information systems, and was applied to characterize approximately 30 technologies. Measurement is a critical component in managing energy consumption and energy information must be shared at all organizational levels to maintain persistent, efficient operations. Energy information systems are important …
Date: June 1, 2009
Creator: Granderson, Jessica; Piette, Mary Ann; Ghatikar, Girish & Price, Philip
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
UTILITY OF MECHANISTIC MODELS FOR DIRECTING ADVANCED SEPARATIONS RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES: Electrochemically Modulated Separation Example (open access)

UTILITY OF MECHANISTIC MODELS FOR DIRECTING ADVANCED SEPARATIONS RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES: Electrochemically Modulated Separation Example

The objective for this work was to demonstrate the utility of mechanistic computer models designed to simulate actinide behavior for use in efficiently and effectively directing advanced laboratory R&D activities associated with developing advanced separations methods.
Date: June 1, 2009
Creator: Schwantes, Jon M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Workload-Adaptive Management of Energy-Smart Disk Storage Systems (open access)

Workload-Adaptive Management of Energy-Smart Disk Storage Systems

Recent studies have identified disk storage systems as one of the major consumers of power in data centers. Many disk power management (DPM) schemes were suggested where the power consumed by disks is reduced by spinning them down during long idle periods. Spinning the disks down and up results in additional energy and response time costs. For that reason, DPM schemes are effective only if the disks experience relatively long idle periods and the scheme does not introduce a severe response time penalty. In this paper we introduce a dynamic block exchange algorithm which switches data between disks based on the observed workload such that frequently accessed blocks end up residing on a few"hot" disks thus allowing the majority of disks to experience longer idle periods. We validate the effectiveness of the algorithm with trace-driven simulations showing power savings of up to 60percent with very small response time penalties.
Date: June 19, 2009
Creator: Otoo, Ekow; Rotem, Doron & Tsao, Shih-Chiang
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geospatial Information and Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Current Issues and Future Challenges (open access)

Geospatial Information and Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Current Issues and Future Challenges

This report provides a primer on geospatial data and GIS and provides several examples of their use. The report discusses issues that may be of interest to Congress: sharing, coordination, and management of geospatial information, including examples of legislation. Finally, recommendations are included from several organizations for how to improve the coordination and management of geospatial information at the federal and state levels.
Date: June 8, 2009
Creator: Folger, Peter
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 107: Low Impact Soil Sites, Nevada Test Site, Nevada (open access)

Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 107: Low Impact Soil Sites, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 107 is identified in the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) as 'Low Impact Soil Sites' and consists of the following 15 Corrective Action Sites (CASs), located in Areas 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, and 18 of the Nevada Test Site: CAS 01-23-02, Atmospheric Test Site - High Alt; CAS 02-23-02, Contaminated Areas (2); CAS 02-23-03, Contaminated Berm; CAS 02-23-10, Gourd-Amber Contamination Area; CAS 02-23-11, Sappho Contamination Area; CAS 02-23-12, Scuttle Contamination Area; CAS 03-23-24, Seaweed B Contamination Area; CAS 03-23-27, Adze Contamination Area; CAS 03-23-28, Manzanas Contamination Area; CAS 03-23-29, Truchas-Chamisal Contamination Area; CAS 04-23-02, Atmospheric Test Site T4-a; CAS 05-23-06, Atmospheric Test Site; CAS 09-23-06, Mound of Contaminated Soil; CAS 10-23-04, Atmospheric Test Site M-10; and CAS 18-23-02, U-18d Crater (Sulky). Closure activities were conducted from February through April 2009 according to the FFACO (1996; as amended February 2008) and Revision 1 of the Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration Plan for CAU 107 (U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office, 2009). The corrective action alternatives included No Further Action and Closure in Place with Administrative Controls. Closure activities are summarized.
Date: June 1, 2009
Creator: National Security Technologies, LLC
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 117: Area 26 Pluto Disassembly Facility, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0 (open access)

Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 117: Area 26 Pluto Disassembly Facility, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, Revision 0

This Closure Report (CR) presents information supporting the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 117: Area 26 Pluto Disassembly Facility, Nevada Test Site, Nevada. This CR complies with the requirements of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order that was agreed to by the State of Nevada; U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Management; U.S. Department of Defense; and DOE, Legacy Management. Corrective Action Unit 117 comprises Corrective Action Site (CAS) 26-41-01, Pluto Disassembly Facility, located in Area 26 of the Nevada Test Site. The purpose of this CR is to provide documentation supporting the completed corrective actions and provide data confirming that the closure objectives for CAU 117 were met. To achieve this, the following actions were performed: • Review the current site conditions, including the concentration and extent of contamination. • Implement any corrective actions necessary to protect human health and the environment. • Properly dispose of corrective action and investigation wastes. • Document Notice of Completion and closure of CAU 117 issued by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. From May 2008 through February 2009, closure activities were performed as set forth in the Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration Plan for Corrective Action Unit 117, Area 26 …
Date: June 1, 2009
Creator: Burmeister, Mark
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Indonesia: Domestic Politics, Strategic Dynamics, and American Interests (open access)

Indonesia: Domestic Politics, Strategic Dynamics, and American Interests

This report surveys key aspects of Indonesia's domestic politics and strategic dynamics in addition to provide general background information on Indonesia. It also provides an overview of the bilateral relationship between the United States and Indonesia. The report examines issues of ongoing congressional interest, including Indonesia's role in the struggle against violent Islamist extremists, security assistance, human rights, religious freedom, promotion of democracy and good governance, trade, foreign assistance, and regional geopolitical and strategic interests.
Date: June 17, 2009
Creator: Vaughn, Bruce
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library