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Southwest Retort, Volume 57, Number 2, October 2004 (open access)

Southwest Retort, Volume 57, Number 2, October 2004

This publication of the Dallas-Fort Worth Section of the American Chemical Society includes information about research, prominent scientist, organizational business, and various other stories of interest to the community.
Date: October 2004
Creator: American Chemical Society. Dallas/Fort Worth Section.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The UNT Digital Library

Slouching Toward Zion and More Lies

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Robert Flynn has gathered twenty-three stories that have hope, faith, and love as their common denominator. They are funny, political, and more than a bit prophetic as well as being superbly crafted. Included in the collection are “The Rest of the Story,” wherein the author retells select Biblical stories and parables supplying heretofore expurgated details with an exquisitely agonizing truth; “Ten Mistakes God Made,” which treats with candor religious politics, elitism, and the unexplained nature of what makes us believe; “The Trouble with Eve” and “Redemption,” which are at heart stories of how one grapples with, avoids, questions, and finally resigns to—love; and “Chicken Soup for the Damned,” a fable corporate biography retelling of the Savior’s story. “Flynn’s prose cuts like St. Michael’s sword slicing through the smug heart of a believer too comfortable in his faith. He is to southern Baptists what Flannery O’Conner is to southern Catholics. He is raw, woolly, and wild-eyed, and very necessary.”—Jill A. Essbaum, Concordia University, author of Heaven
Date: October 15, 2004
Creator: Flynn, Robert L.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Intermediate Sanctions in Corrections

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
The field of corrections comprises three distinct areas of study: institutional corrections (jails and prisons), community corrections (probation and parole), and intermediate sanctions (community service, boot camps, intensive supervision programs, home confinement and electronic monitoring, halfway houses, day reporting, fines, and restitution). Intermediate Sanctions in Corrections is the first non-edited book devoted completely to intermediate sanctions systems and their individual programs. It begins with an overview of the background and foundation of intermediate sanctions programs and then describes in clear detail each program and its effectiveness. Caputo supports every point with thorough and up-to-date research. Jon’a Meyer, an expert on this field, contributes a chapter on home confinement. Aimed at students, scholars, and policymakers, Intermediate Sanctions in Corrections will be used in the many undergraduate criminal justice courses devoted to corrections and intermediate sanctions.
Date: October 15, 2004
Creator: Caputo, Gail A.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
GAO's Agency Protocols (open access)

GAO's Agency Protocols

Guidance issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report supersedes GAO-03-232SP, GAO's Agency Protocols. This document contains the updated protocols that govern the U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GAO) work with executive branch agencies. The protocols provide clearly defined and transparent policies and practices on how GAO interacts with agencies in performing its work. GAO supports the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and strives to help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. Although our primary client is the Congress and we must maintain our independence from the entities that are the subject of our work, we seek to continue constructive working relationships with the executive branch. In all cases, we seek to conduct our work in a professional, objective, fact-based, nonpartisan, and nonideological manner, in order to help improve government."
Date: October 21, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Homeland Security: Management Challenges Remain in Transforming Immigration Programs (open access)

Homeland Security: Management Challenges Remain in Transforming Immigration Programs

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assumed responsibility for the immigration enforcement and services programs of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in 2003. The three DHS bureaus with primary responsibility for immigration functions are U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This transfer creates a great opportunity for DHS to address long-standing management and operational problems within INS. The Homeland Security Act requires GAO to review the transfer of immigration functions to DHS. In response, this report assesses the status of (1) communication and coordination of roles and responsibilities, (2) integration of immigration and customs investigators in ICE, and (3) administrative services and systems in CBP, CIS, and ICE."
Date: October 14, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Aviation Safety: FAA Needs to Strengthen the Management of Its Designee Programs (open access)

Aviation Safety: FAA Needs to Strengthen the Management of Its Designee Programs

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The safety of the flying public and the reliability of the nation's aircraft depend, in part, on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) regulation and certification of the aviation industry. FAA delegates the vast majority of its safety certification activities to about 13,600 private persons and organizations, known as "designees," which are currently grouped into 18 different programs. Among other tasks, designees perform physical examinations to ensure that pilots are medically fit to fly and examine the airworthiness of aircraft. GAO reviewed (1) the strengths of FAA's designee programs, (2) the weaknesses of those programs and factors contributing to those weaknesses, and (3) potential improvements to the programs."
Date: October 8, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S.-China Trade: Opportunities to Improve U.S. Government Efforts to Ensure China's Compliance with World Trade Organization Commitments (open access)

U.S.-China Trade: Opportunities to Improve U.S. Government Efforts to Ensure China's Compliance with World Trade Organization Commitments

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "China's 2001 accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) required China to reform its economy and trade practices. As part of ongoing work, GAO reviewed how the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, and State pursued China's WTO compliance in 2003. Specifically, this report (1) discusses the scope and disposition of China's compliance problems, (2) reviews the U.S. government's bilateral and multilateral approaches for resolving these problems, (3) assesses the key agencies' strategies and plans for ensuring compliance, and (4) assesses how the agencies have adapted their staff resources to conduct compliance activities."
Date: October 6, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Management Could Benefit from Improved Strategic Planning and Increased Oversight (open access)

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Management Could Benefit from Improved Strategic Planning and Increased Oversight

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on the Judiciary asked GAO to determine (1) the extent of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' compliance with the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993, (2) what federal oversight is provided to the Commission, and (3) the status of the implementation of recommendations from GAO's past reviews of the Commission."
Date: October 8, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medicare Physician Payments: Concerns about Spending Target System Prompt Interest in Considering Reforms (open access)

Medicare Physician Payments: Concerns about Spending Target System Prompt Interest in Considering Reforms

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns were raised about the current system Medicare uses to determine annual changes to physician fees--the sustainable growth rate (SGR) system--when fees were reduced by 5.4 percent in 2002. Subsequent administrative and legislative actions modified or overrode the SGR system, resulting in fee increases for 2003, 2004, and 2005. However, projected fee reductions for 2006-2012 have raised new concerns about the SGR system. Policymakers are considering whether to eliminate spending targets or modify them. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) required that GAO study SGR and potential alternatives to the system. This report examines (1) how the SGR system is designed to control spending for physician services, (2) what concerns have been raised about the SGR system and its components, (3) what affects the stability and predictability of physician fee updates under the SGR system, and (4) what alternatives to the current SGR system exist. GAO reviewed relevant laws and regulations and interviewed officials and organizations representing physicians. On the basis of this information, GAO identified potential alternatives to the SGR system and requested illustrative simulations of fee updates and spending …
Date: October 8, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Office of Special Counsel's Role in Enforcing Law to Protect Reemployment Rights of Veterans and Reservists in Federal Employment (open access)

U.S. Office of Special Counsel's Role in Enforcing Law to Protect Reemployment Rights of Veterans and Reservists in Federal Employment

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) enforces the rights of federal employees and applicants for federal employment under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994. USERRA provides for the employment and reemployment rights of federal and nonfederal employees who leave their employment to perform military service. USERRA also prohibits discrimination against persons because of their military service. In light of the significant number of National Guard members and reservists serving in the war in Iraq and in other conflicts who will be demobilized and returning to the federal workforce in the coming months, the Ranking Minority Member, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, asked us to review issues surrounding enforcement of the act in the federal sector, particularly by OSC. Under USERRA, a federal employee or applicant who believes that his or her USERRA rights have been violated may file a claim with the Department of Labor's (DOL) Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS), which investigates and attempts to resolve the claim. If VETS cannot resolve the claim, the individual may request that it be referred to OSC. In addition to …
Date: October 6, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Local Television Act: Status of Spending for Fiscal Year 2003 (open access)

Local Television Act: Status of Spending for Fiscal Year 2003

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In December 2000, the Congress passed the Launching Our Communities' Access to Local Television Act of 2000 (Local TV Act or act). The act created the Local Television Loan Guarantee Program (Program) and established the Local Television Loan Guarantee Board (Board) to finance projects that will provide access to signals of local television stations to households in areas with limited or no access to such signals from a commercial satellite service or other multichannel video provider. The Board may approve loan guarantees up to 80 percent of loans totaling no more than $1.25 billion in aggregate. In November 2001, the Congress appropriated $2 million for administrative expenses to implement the Program. Section 1006 of the act requires that we perform an annual audit of the (1) administration of the provisions of the act, and (2) financial position of each applicant who receives a loan guarantee under the act, including the nature, amount, and purpose of investments made by the applicant. In October 2003, we issued our first annual report as required by the act. This second report addresses the status of the $2 million administrative appropriation and the …
Date: October 15, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Prescription Drugs: Trends in Usual and Customary Prices for Drugs Frequently Used by Medicare and Non-Medicare Enrollees (open access)

Prescription Drugs: Trends in Usual and Customary Prices for Drugs Frequently Used by Medicare and Non-Medicare Enrollees

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to a Congressional request for information on trends in prices for prescription drugs frequently used by Medicare beneficiaries and other individual with health insurance. We obtained data from two state pharmaceutical assistance programs for the elderly on the usual and customary prices reported by retail pharmacies for selected drugs. The usual and customary price is the undiscounted price individuals without drug coverage would pay. We tracked monthly price trends from January 2000 through June 2004 for a total of 99 drugs, which include 77 drugs frequently used by certain Medicare enrollees and 79 drugs frequently used by certain non-Medicare enrollees. We also compared the price trends during this period separately for the 52 brand drugs and 47 generic drugs."
Date: October 6, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Financial Management: Improved Financial Systems Are Key to FFMIA Compliance (open access)

Financial Management: Improved Financial Systems Are Key to FFMIA Compliance

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The ability to produce the data needed to efficiently and effectively manage the day-to-day operations of the federal government and provide accountability to taxpayers has been a long-standing challenge to most federal agencies. To help address this challenge, the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA) requires the 23 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies to implement and maintain financial management systems that comply substantially with (1) federal financial management systems requirements, (2) applicable federal accounting standards, and (3) the U.S. Government Standard General Ledger (SGL) at the transaction level. FFMIA also requires GAO to report annually on the implementation of the act."
Date: October 1, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Office of Federal Student Aid: Better Strategic and Human Capital Planning Would Help Sustain Management Progress (open access)

Office of Federal Student Aid: Better Strategic and Human Capital Planning Would Help Sustain Management Progress

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2003, the Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) managed about $60 billion in new financial aid. In 1998, the Congress designated FSA as a performance-based organization. In so doing, it specified purposes for the agency, such as to reduce program costs and increase accountability of its officials, and provided flexibilities such as allowing FSA to pay bonuses. Also FSA is required to annually prepare a performance plan and report and have performance agreements for its senior officials. Past reviews revealed serious problems and concerns about FSA's management. In January 2003, GAO reported that FSA had made progress but had not sufficiently addressed some key management issues. Also, GAO noted that FSA, like other agencies needed to address human capital issues. GAO assessed FSA's progress in (1) addressing key management issues and meeting requirements for planning and reporting, and (2) developing a human capital strategy and increasing the accountability of its officials."
Date: October 6, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Public Community Colleges and Technical Schools: Most Schools Use Both Credit and Noncredit Programs for Workforce Development (open access)

Public Community Colleges and Technical Schools: Most Schools Use Both Credit and Noncredit Programs for Workforce Development

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The goal of most American workers--a well-paying job--will be increasingly linked to adequate training in the coming years. Such training will be key to competing for the 21 million new jobs the Department of Labor projects will be created in the 2002 to 2012 period. People already in, or seeking to enter, the workforce often turn to the nation's more than 1,100 public community colleges and technical schools to obtain needed skills. Nearly 6 million students were enrolled in for-credit courses in the fall term 2000 and millions more participated in noncredit courses at these schools. GAO was asked to examine: (1) the extent to which community colleges and technical schools are involved in remedial education and workforce training efforts as well as academic preparation activities; (2) how state and federal funding support these academic and training efforts; and (3) what is known about schools' efforts to measure outcomes, including the rates at which students graduate, transfer to 4-year institutions, pass occupational licensing exams, and gain employment. The scope of our review included a Web-based survey of 1,070 public community colleges and technical schools, 758 (71 …
Date: October 18, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Immigration Enforcement: DHS Has Incorporated Immigration Enforcement Objectives and Is Addressing Future Planning Requirements (open access)

Immigration Enforcement: DHS Has Incorporated Immigration Enforcement Objectives and Is Addressing Future Planning Requirements

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) had five interior (non-border-related) immigration enforcement objectives to address federal immigration law violations: identify and remove criminal aliens from the United States; deter and dismantle alien trafficking and smuggling; respond to community reports and complaints about illegal immigration; minimize immigration benefit fraud; and block employers' access to undocumented workers. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the INS and other federal agencies began merging their law enforcement functions into the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within the Department of Homeland Security. Congress sought information on how the newly formed ICE was addressing legacy INS's immigration enforcement objectives. GAO addressed the following questions: (1) What is the status of ICE's efforts to incorporate legacy INS's interior immigration enforcement objectives? (2) How is ICE developing budget needs, workforce plans, and performance measures for immigration-related objectives?"
Date: October 8, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medicare: Appropriate Dispensing Fee Needed for Suppliers of Inhalation Therapy Drugs (open access)

Medicare: Appropriate Dispensing Fee Needed for Suppliers of Inhalation Therapy Drugs

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) revised the payment formula for most of the outpatient drugs, including inhalation therapy drugs, covered under Medicare part B. Under the revised formula, effective 2005, Medicare's payment is intended to be closer to acquisition costs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency that administers Medicare, also pays suppliers of inhalation therapy drugs a $5 per patient per month dispensing fee. Suppliers have raised concerns that once drug payments are closer to acquisition costs, they will no longer be able to use overpayments on drugs to subsidize dispensing costs, which they state are higher than $5. As directed by MMA, GAO (1) examined suppliers' acquisition costs of inhalation therapy drugs and (2) identified costs to suppliers of dispensing inhalation therapy drugs to Medicare beneficiaries."
Date: October 12, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medicare: Incomplete Plan to Transfer Appeals Workload from SSA to HHS Threatens Service to Appellants (open access)

Medicare: Incomplete Plan to Transfer Appeals Workload from SSA to HHS Threatens Service to Appellants

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Medicare appeals process has been the subject of widespread concern in recent years because of the time it takes to resolve appeals of denied claims. Two federal agencies play a role in deciding appeals--the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA). Currently, neither agency manages and oversees the entire multilevel process. In the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), Congress mandated that SSA transfer its responsibility for adjudicating Medicare appeals to HHS between July 1, 2005, and October 1, 2005. In addition, it directed the two agencies to develop a transfer plan addressing 13 specific elements related to the transfer. GAO's objective was to determine whether the plan is sufficient to ensure a smooth and timely transition."
Date: October 4, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
American Community Survey: Key Unresolved Issues (open access)

American Community Survey: Key Unresolved Issues

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Congress asked GAO to review operational and programmatic aspects of the Census Bureau's ACS that will affect the reliability of small geographic area data. The ACS will be a mail survey of about 3 million households annually, whose results will be cumulated over 5 years to produce estimates that will replace information previously provided by the Decennial Census long form. In addition, annual data will be published for geographic areas with 65,000+ populations and as 3-year averages for areas with populations of 20,000 to 65,000. Annual data will be published beginning in 2006 with data for 2005. The 5-year averages for 2008-12 will provide data for small geographic areas."
Date: October 7, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medicare Hospice Care: Modifications to Payment Methodology May Be Warranted (open access)

Medicare Hospice Care: Modifications to Payment Methodology May Be Warranted

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Medicare hospice benefit provides care to patients with a terminal illness. For each patient, hospices are paid a per diem rate corresponding to one of four payment categories, which are based on service intensity and location of care. Since implementation in 1983, the payment methodology and rates have not been evaluated. The Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 directed GAO to study the feasibility and advisability of updating Medicare's payment rates for hospice care. In this report, GAO (1) compares freestanding hospices' costs to Medicare payment rates and (2) evaluates the appropriateness of the per diem payment methodology. Because of Medicare data limitations, it was not possible to compare actual payments to costs or examine the services provided to each patient."
Date: October 15, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Attorney General's Travel Costs for the USA PATRIOT Act Tour and Related Activities (open access)

U.S. Attorney General's Travel Costs for the USA PATRIOT Act Tour and Related Activities

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In August and September of 2003, the Attorney General of the United States visited a number of cities around the country on what has been termed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) as the "USA PATRIOT Act Tour." According to DOJ, the intent of the tour was to (1) educate the public and inform members of Congress about the provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and (2) receive input and feedback from state and local law enforcement with respect to information sharing among law enforcement agencies and threats to homeland security. We are providing information on the locations and costs of the U.S. Attorney General's travels known as the USA PATRIOT Act Tour, as well as the locations and costs of a series of trips in September 2003 referred to by DOJ as "Life and Liberty" travel. These latter trips involved a series of speeches regarding crime statistics and other topics, including the importance of the USA PATRIOT Act. We are also providing information on the official positions and office assignments of the DOJ staff that accompanied the U.S. Attorney General on each of these travel visits. Additionally, …
Date: October 12, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Financial Regulation: Industry Changes Prompt Need to Reconsider U.S. Regulatory Structure (open access)

Financial Regulation: Industry Changes Prompt Need to Reconsider U.S. Regulatory Structure

A chapter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In light of the passage of the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and increased competition within the financial services industry at home and abroad, GAO was asked to report on the current state of the U.S. financial services regulatory structure. This report describes the changes to the financial services industry, focusing on banking, securities, futures, and insurance; the structure of the U.S. and other regulatory systems; changes in regulatory and supervisory approaches; efforts to foster communication and cooperation among U.S. and other regulators; and the strengths and weaknesses of the current regulatory structure."
Date: October 6, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
IPCC Expert Meeting On Industrial Technology Development, Transfer And Diffusion (open access)

IPCC Expert Meeting On Industrial Technology Development, Transfer And Diffusion

This meeting summary report presents the major findings and discussion from the IPCC Expert Meeting on "Industrial Technology Development, Transfer and Diffusion."
Date: October 2004
Creator: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Electronic Government: Smart Card Usage is Advancing Among Federal Agencies, Including the Department of Veterans Affairs (open access)

Electronic Government: Smart Card Usage is Advancing Among Federal Agencies, Including the Department of Veterans Affairs

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government is interested in the use of smart cards--credit card-like devices that use integrated circuit chips to store and process data--for improving the security of its many physical and information assets. Besides providing better authentication of the identities of people accessing buildings and computer systems, smart cards offer a number of other potential benefits and uses, such as creating electronic passenger lists for deploying military personnel and tracking immunization and other medical records. Over the past 2 years, GAO has studied and reported on the uses of smart cards across the federal government. Congress requested that GAO testify on federal agencies' efforts in adopting smart card technology--based on the results of this prior work--and on the specific actions that the Department of Veterans Affairs is taking to implement smart card technology."
Date: October 6, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library