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Military Personnel: Financial Cost and Loss of Critical Skills Due to DOD's Homosexual Conduct Policy Cannot Be Completely Estimated (open access)

Military Personnel: Financial Cost and Loss of Critical Skills Due to DOD's Homosexual Conduct Policy Cannot Be Completely Estimated

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From the passage of the homosexual conduct policy statute, in fiscal year 1994, through fiscal year 2003 the military services separated about 9,500 servicemembers for homosexual conduct. This represents about 0.40 percent of the 2.37 million members separated for all reasons during this period. Questions have been raised about the costs of separating servicemembers for homosexual conduct. Also, in the post-September 11th environment, there has been concern about the separation of servicemembers with critical occupations or important foreign language skills in, for example, Arabic. GAO was asked to determine (1) the military services' annual financial costs from fiscal year 1994 through fiscal year 2003 for certain activities associated with administering the Department of Defense's (DOD) policy on homosexual conduct--e.g., the recruitment and training of servicemembers to replace those separated under the homosexual conduct statute--and (2) the extent to which the policy has resulted in the separation of servicemembers with critical occupations and important foreign language skills. GAO provided DOD with a draft of this report for comment, and DOD provided additional information on separations for homosexual conduct compared with other unprogrammed separations."
Date: February 23, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Nation's Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: January 2007 Update (open access)

The Nation's Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: January 2007 Update

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1992, GAO has published long-term fiscal simulations of what might happen to federal deficits and debt levels under varying policy assumptions. GAO developed its long-term model in response to a bipartisan request from Members of Congress who were concerned about the long-term effects of fiscal policy. In 1992 GAO said: "The federal budget is structurally unbalanced. This will do increasing damage to the economy and is unsustainable in the long term. Regardless of the approach chosen, prompt and meaningful action is essential. The longer it is delayed, the more painful it will be." These words are as relevant today as when GAO first published them. GAO updates its simulations three times a year as new estimates become available from the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) Budget and Economic Outlook (January), Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports (early spring), and CBO's Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update (late summer)."
Date: February 23, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Motor Fuels: Gasoline Price Spikes in Oregon in 1999 (open access)

Motor Fuels: Gasoline Price Spikes in Oregon in 1999

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the extent to which retail gasoline prices in Oregon spiked from January through August 1999 and the factors that accounted for the spikes."
Date: February 23, 2000
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Homeland Security: Federal Action Needed to Address Security Challenges at Chemical Facilities (open access)

Homeland Security: Federal Action Needed to Address Security Challenges at Chemical Facilities

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The events of September 11, 2001, triggered a national re-examination of the security of thousands of industrial facilities that use or store hazardous chemicals in quantities that could potentially put large numbers of Americans at risk of serious injury or death in the event of a terrorist-caused chemical release. GAO was asked to examine (1) available information on the threats and risks from terrorism faced by U.S. chemical facilities; (2) federal requirements for security preparedness and safety at facilities; (3) actions taken by federal agencies to assess the vulnerability of the industry; and (4) voluntary actions the chemical industry has taken to address security preparedness, and the challenges it faces in protecting its assets and operations. GAO issued a report on this work in March 2003 (GAO-03-439)."
Date: February 23, 2004
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Responses to Questions Concerning Long-Term Capital Management and Related Events (open access)

Responses to Questions Concerning Long-Term Capital Management and Related Events

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information concerning Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM), its near failure, and its subsequent recapitalization in September 1998."
Date: February 23, 2000
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Telecommunications: GSA Has Accumulated Adequate Funding for Transition to New Contracts but Needs Cost Estimation Policy (open access)

Telecommunications: GSA Has Accumulated Adequate Funding for Transition to New Contracts but Needs Cost Estimation Policy

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The General Services Administration (GSA) and its customer agencies are preparing to transition new governmentwide telecommunications contracts known as the Networx program. GSA estimated the costs for which it is responsible to be $151.5 million. This report addresses (1) the soundness of the analysis GSA used to derive the estimate of funding that would be required for the transition and (2) whether GSA will have accumulated adequate funding to pay for transition costs. In performing this work, GAO reviewed cost estimation best practices, analyzed relevant GSA documents, and performed an uncertainty analysis on GSA's estimate."
Date: February 23, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fisheries Management: Core Principles and a Strategic Approach Would Enhance Stakeholder Participation in Developing Quota-Based Programs (open access)

Fisheries Management: Core Principles and a Strategic Approach Would Enhance Stakeholder Participation in Developing Quota-Based Programs

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Dedicated access privilege (DAP) programs are one tool the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) uses to help end overfishing and promote conservation. Under a DAP program, NMFS sets an allowable catch in a fishery and allocates the privilege to harvest a portion of the total to eligible entities, such as fishermen. Because DAP programs can have significant impacts on fishermen and their communities, many believe that effective participation by fishermen and other stakeholders in the development of these programs is critical. GAO was asked to determine (1) the extent to which the regional fishery management councils are using a framework for effective participation and (2) the methods stakeholders and participation experts suggest for enhancing stakeholder participation in developing DAP programs."
Date: February 23, 2006
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Workforce Investment Act: Labor Actions Can Help States Improve Quality of Performance Outcome Data and Delivery of Youth Services (open access)

Workforce Investment Act: Labor Actions Can Help States Improve Quality of Performance Outcome Data and Delivery of Youth Services

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) has been in effect for several years and is currently undergoing reauthorization. In order to provide the Congress with information on the implementation and effectiveness of the WIA youth program, GAO was asked to explore how services have been delivered at the local level, whether the Department of Labor's guidance has addressed challenges faced by local areas, and how effective the program has been."
Date: February 23, 2004
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Capital: Three Entities' Implementation of Capital Planning Principles Is Mixed (open access)

Federal Capital: Three Entities' Implementation of Capital Planning Principles Is Mixed

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2005, the federal government spent nearly $117 billion on capital investments intended to yield long-term benefits for its operations. Effective capital planning ensures that the sizable investments made by federal agencies result in the most efficient return to taxpayers. Accordingly, GAO evaluated (1) how well selected entities followed the planning phase principles of GAO's Executive Guide and the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Capital Programming Guide, (2) OMB's actions to encourage all agencies to conform with capital planning principles, and (3) what capital planning information is received by or would be useful to congressional decision makers. Based on missions, asset types, and capital spending, we selected three entities to review within the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Homeland Security (DHS)."
Date: February 23, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Highway Emergency Relief: Reexamination Needed to Address Fiscal Imbalance and Long-term Sustainability (open access)

Highway Emergency Relief: Reexamination Needed to Address Fiscal Imbalance and Long-term Sustainability

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1972, Congress has authorized $100 million a year for highway disaster recovery needs through the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Emergency Relief (ER) program. Increasingly, the program's actual costs have exceeded this amount, and Congress has provided additional funding. Because of this fiscal imbalance between program funding and program needs, we reviewed ER under the Comptroller General's authority to determine the (1) total funding, distribution of funds among the states, and disaster events funded; (2) sources of funding provided and financial challenges facing the program; and (3) scope of activities eligible for funding and how the scope of eligible activities has changed in recent years. GAO's study is based on financial data, document analysis, stakeholder interviews, and site visits, among other methods."
Date: February 23, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
DHS: Organizational Structure and Resources for Providing Health Care to Immigration Detainees (open access)

DHS: Organizational Structure and Resources for Providing Health Care to Immigration Detainees

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recent events have drawn attention to the health care provided to detainees held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). For fiscal year 2004 through fiscal year 2007, ICE reported that 69 detainees died while in ICE custody, and during 2008, national news organizations investigated and published reports of the circumstances surrounding several detainee deaths. Other reports have also outlined concerns about the health care provided to detainees. For example, in 2007, the DHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found problems with adherence to ICE's medical standards at two ICE facilities it reviewed where detainee deaths had occurred. Additionally, members of Congress, the media, and advocacy groups have raised questions about the health care provided to detainees in ICE custody. An explanatory statement accompanying the fiscal year 2009 DHS appropriations act directed ICE to fund an independent, comprehensive review of the medical care provided to persons detained by DHS and identified $2 million for that purpose. ICE was created in March 2003 as part of DHS. From fiscal year 2003 through fiscal year 2007, the average daily population …
Date: February 23, 2009
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
OCC Consumer Assistance: Process Is Similar to That of Other Regulators but Could Be Improved by Enhanced Outreach (open access)

OCC Consumer Assistance: Process Is Similar to That of Other Regulators but Could Be Improved by Enhanced Outreach

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In January 2004, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)--the federal regulator of national banks--issued rules concerning the extent to which federal law preempts state and local banking laws. Some state officials and consumer groups expressed concerns about a perceived loss of consumer protection. GAO identified (1) how OCC's complaint process compares with that of other federal bank regulators, (2) how complaint information informs OCC's supervision of national banks, and (3) issues that consumer advocates and state officials have raised about OCC's consumer protection efforts and OCC's responses to the issues."
Date: February 23, 2006
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Homeland Security: Some Progress Made, but Many Challenges Remain on U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program (open access)

Homeland Security: Some Progress Made, but Many Challenges Remain on U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has established a program--the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT)--to collect, maintain, and share information, including biometric identifiers, on selected foreign nationals who travel to the United States. By congressional mandate, DHS is to develop and submit for approval an expenditure plan for US-VISIT that satisfies certain conditions, including being reviewed by GAO. Among other things, GAO was asked to determine whether the plan satisfied these conditions and to provide observations on the plan and DHS's program management."
Date: February 23, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Definitions of Insurance and Related Information (open access)

Definitions of Insurance and Related Information

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter concerns a variety of issues related to identifying a universal definition of insurance and the challenges associated with doing so. We briefed congressional staff on the preliminary results of our work on June 24, 2005, and on our final results on November 29, 2005. Specifically, we provided information on (1) the elements that are commonly part of definitions of insurance, (2) a few products not universally defined as insurance or regulated across the states by their insurance departments, (3) possible regulatory implications of developing separate definitions for insurance products covering insurance risks in more than one category, (4) current developments in statutory and financial accounting communities in re-evaluating their guidelines for measuring risk transfer in reinsurance contracts, and (5) certain circumstances when finite risk contracts are used."
Date: February 23, 2006
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Motor Fuels: Gasoline Prices in Oregon (open access)

Motor Fuels: Gasoline Prices in Oregon

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This correspondence provides information on (1) factors affecting retail gasoline prices in Oregon, including transportation costs, taxes, costs of full service, and other supply and demand conditions and (2) how gasoline price trends in Portland, Oregon, compare with trends in other West Coast cities. GAO identified several factors affecting gasoline prices in Oregon, including (1) higher-than-average costs associated with transporting gasoline from refiners to consumers because Oregon has no refining capability and a greater proportion of its gasoline demand comes from rural driving, (2) higher-than-average state gasoline taxes, and (3) a prohibition on self-service gasoline stations. GAO also found that although Portland's gas prices differ from those of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, all four cities responded similarly to rapid price changes. Retail prices in all four cities follow similar patterns with respect to major periods of price increases and decreases."
Date: February 23, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
IRS Modernization: IRS Should Enhance Its Performance Management System (open access)

IRS Modernization: IRS Should Enhance Its Performance Management System

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made progress in revamping its performance management system. The goals, objectives, and measures that IRS has developed, along with its new strategic planning and budgeting process, are intended to integrate results-oriented management into IRS' daily decision-making. However, as IRS officials acknowledge, extensively revamping a performance management system is a complex task that takes years to complete. GAO identified several opportunities to enhance IRS' performance management system, including clarifying goals and objectives, improving the linkages between measures, objectives, and goals, and developing fewer but more specific action items. Such enhancements could increase managerial accountability and create stronger incentives for frontline employees to achieve IRS' goals and objectives."
Date: February 23, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Environmental Protection Agency: Control of Air Pollution From New Motor Vehicles--Tier 2 Motor Vehicle Emissions Standards and Gasoline Sulfur Control Requirements (open access)

Environmental Protection Agency: Control of Air Pollution From New Motor Vehicles--Tier 2 Motor Vehicle Emissions Standards and Gasoline Sulfur Control Requirements

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new rule on the control of air pollution from new motor vehicles. GAO noted that: (1) the new rule is designed to reduce the emissions from new passenger cars and light trucks, including pickup trucks, vans, minivans, and sport utility vehicles; (2) the new rule finalizes a single set of tailpipe emission standards that will, for the first time, apply to all passenger cars, light trucks, and larger passenger vehicles operated on any fuel; (3) the new rule requires reduced gasoline sulfur levels nationwide; and (4) EPA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."
Date: February 23, 2000
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Emergency Preparedness and Response: Some Issues and Challenges Associated with Major Emergency Incidents (open access)

Emergency Preparedness and Response: Some Issues and Challenges Associated with Major Emergency Incidents

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the challenges of effective emergency preparedness for, response to, and recovery from major emergencies, including catastrophic incidents. Effective emergency preparedness and response for major events requires the coordinated planning and actions of multiple players from multiple first responder disciplines, jurisdictions, and levels of government as well as nongovernmental entities. Effective emergency preparedness and response requires putting aside parochialism and working together prior to and after an emergency incident. September 11, 2001 fundamentally changed the context of emergency management preparedness in the United States, including federal involvement in preparedness and response. The biggest challenge in emergency preparedness is getting effective cooperation in planning, exercises, and capability assessment and building across first responder disciplines and intergovernmental lines. DHS has developed several policy documents designed to define the federal government's role in supporting state and local first responders in emergencies, implement a uniform incident command structure across the nation, and identify performance standards that can be used in assessing state and local first responder capabilities. Realistic exercises are a key component of testing and assessing emergency plans and first responder capabilities, and the Hurricane PAM planning exercise demonstrated …
Date: February 23, 2006
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library

Faculty Recital: 2007-02-23 - Lynn Eustis, soprano and Kevin Jones, piano

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
A faculty and guest recital performed at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall.
Date: February 23, 2007
Creator: Eustis, Lynn & Jones, Kevin
Object Type: Sound
System: The UNT Digital Library
Securing, Stabilizing, and Developing Pakistan's Border Area with Afghanistan: Key Issues for Congressional Oversight (open access)

Securing, Stabilizing, and Developing Pakistan's Border Area with Afghanistan: Key Issues for Congressional Oversight

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2002, destroying the terrorist threat and closing the terrorist safe haven along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan have been key national security goals. The United States has provided Pakistan, an important ally in the war on terror, with more than $12.3 billion for a variety of activities, in part to address these goals. About half of this amount has been to reimburse Pakistan for military-related support, including combat operations in and around the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Despite 6 years of U.S. and Pakistani government efforts, al Qaeda has regenerated its ability to attack the United States and continues to maintain a safe haven in Pakistan's FATA. As the United States considers how it will go forward with efforts to assist Pakistan in securing, stabilizing, and developing its FATA and Western Frontier bordering Afghanistan, it is vital that efforts to develop a comprehensive plan using all elements of national power be completed and that continued oversight and accountability over funds used for these efforts are in place."
Date: February 23, 2009
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Aviation Security: Measures for Testing the Impact of Using Commercial Data for the Secure Flight Program (open access)

Aviation Security: Measures for Testing the Impact of Using Commercial Data for the Secure Flight Program

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is developing a new passenger prescreening program, known as Secure Flight. Under the Secure Flight program, TSA plans to take over, from commercial airlines, the responsibility for comparing identifying information of domestic airline passengers against information on known or suspected terrorists. TSA is also considering using commercial data as part of Secure Flight if the data are shown, through testing, to improve the results of these comparisons. In the 2005 Homeland Security Appropriations Act, Congress mandated that, prior to testing the use of commercial data for Secure Flight, TSA develop measures to assess the impacts of using commercial data on aviation security, and that GAO review the measures. In response to that mandate, we reviewed TSA's measures for commercial data testing and briefed congressional staff on January 11, 2005, on our findings. This report documents the results of our review, which we presented in that briefing."
Date: February 23, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Beyond Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics: Maximum entropy hyperensemblesout-of-equilibrium (open access)

Beyond Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics: Maximum entropy hyperensemblesout-of-equilibrium

What is the best description that we can construct of athermodynamic system that is not in equilibrium, given only one, or afew, extra parameters over and above those needed for a description ofthe same system at equilibrium? Here, we argue the most appropriateadditional parameter is the non-equilibrium entropy of the system, andthat we should not attempt to estimate the probability distribution ofthe system, but rather the metaprobability (or hyperensemble) that thesystem is described by a particular probability distribution. The resultis an entropic distribution with two parameters, one a non-equilibriumtemperature, and the other a measure of distance from equilibrium. Thisdispersion parameter smoothly interpolates between certainty of acanonical distribution at equilibrium and great uncertainty as to theprobability distribution as we move away from equilibrium. We deducethat, in general, large, rare fluctuations become far more common as wemove away from equilibrium.
Date: February 23, 2006
Creator: Crooks, Gavin E.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measurement of the Semileptonic Decays B->D tau nu and B->D* tau nu (open access)

Measurement of the Semileptonic Decays B->D tau nu and B->D* tau nu

The authors present measurements of the semileptonic decays B{sup -} {yields} D{sup 0} {tau}{sup -} {bar {nu}}{sub {tau}}, B{sup -} {yields} D*{sup 0} {tau}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {tau}}, {bar B}{sup 0} {yields} D{sup +} {tau}{sup -} {bar {nu}}{sub {tau}}, and {bar B}{sup 0} {yields} D*{sup +} {tau}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {tau}}, which are sensitive to non-Standard Model amplitudes in certain scenarios. The data sample consists of 232 x 10{sup 6} {Upsilon}(4S) {yields} B{bar B} decays collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e{sup +}e{sup -} collider. They select events with a D or D* meson and a light lepton ({ell} = e or {mu}) recoiling against a fully reconstructed B meson. They perform a fit to the joint distribution of lepton momentum and missing mass squared to distinguish signal B {yields} D{sup (*)}{tau}{sup -} {bar {nu}}{sub {tau}} ({tau}{sup -} {yields} {ell}{sup -} {bar {nu}}{sub {ell}}{nu}{sub {tau}}) events from the backgrounds, predominantly B {yields} D{sup (*)} {ell}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {ell}}. They measure the branching-fraction ratios R(D) {triple_bond} {Beta}(B {yields} D{tau}{sup -} {bar {nu}}{sub {tau}})/{Beta}(B {yields} D{ell}{sup -} {bar {nu}}{sub {ell}}) and R(D*) {triple_bond} {Beta}(B {yields} D*{tau}{sup -} {bar {nu}}{sub {tau}})/{Beta}(B {yields} D* {ell}{sup -} {bar {nu}}{sub {ell}}) and, from a combined fit …
Date: February 23, 2009
Creator: Aubert, B.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Metastable Supersymmetry Breaking and Multitrace Deformations of SQCD (open access)

Metastable Supersymmetry Breaking and Multitrace Deformations of SQCD

Metastable vacua in supersymmetric QCD in the presence of single and multitrace deformations of the superpotential are explored, with the aim of obtaining an acceptable phenomenology. The metastable vacua appear at one loop, have a broken R-symmetry, and a magnetic gauge group that is completely Higgsed. With only a single trace deformation, the adjoint fermions from the meson superfield are approximately massless at one loop, even though they are massive at tree level and R-symmetry is broken. Consequently, if charged under the standard model, they are unacceptably light. A multitrace quadratic deformation generates fermion masses proportional to the deformation parameter. Phenomenologically viable models of direct gauge mediation can then be obtained, and some of their features are discussed.
Date: February 23, 2009
Creator: Essig, Rouven; Fortin, Jean-Francois; Sinha, Kuver; Torroba, Gonzalo & Strassler, Matthew J.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library