Deepwater Horizon Response: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Response

This website served as the focal point for the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command, a group of organizations that had involvement with the British Petroleum (BP) explosion and oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. The website includes news feeds and information about health concerns, volunteer opportunities, contact information, and ongoing plans for the area. Various maps of the event and other resources are also available, chronicling the problem and the steps taken by the member organizations to deal with the effects.
Date: September 10, 2010
Creator: Deepwater Horizon Unified Command
Object Type: Website
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Audit Report on the Department of State Health Services' Public Health Laboratories (open access)

An Audit Report on the Department of State Health Services' Public Health Laboratories

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether the Department of State Health Services manages selected funding streams for the state laboratory in compliance with the General Appropriations Act and collects revenues and sets fees for lab services in compliance with federal and state statutes and rules; has controls to safeguard and account for inventories of supplies used in laboratory tests; and whether it has, and adheres to, policies and procedures that ensure timely receipt and processing of samples for testing at the state laboratory.
Date: September 2010
Creator: Texas. Office of the State Auditor.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
An Audit Report on the Charitable Bingo Operations Division at the Texas Lottery Commission (open access)

An Audit Report on the Charitable Bingo Operations Division at the Texas Lottery Commission

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether the Texas Lottery Commission's (Agency) Charitable Bingo Operations Division has controls to verify that proceeds are distributed for charitable purposes in compliance with state laws and agency rules.
Date: September 2010
Creator: Texas. Office of the State Auditor.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
An Audit Report on Veterans' Services at Selected Institutions of Higher Education and Survey Results Related to Veterans' Services at All Texas Public Higher Education Institutions (open access)

An Audit Report on Veterans' Services at Selected Institutions of Higher Education and Survey Results Related to Veterans' Services at All Texas Public Higher Education Institutions

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether selected institutions inform service members and veterans about education opportunities, provide support while these individuals attend the institution, and have implemented other practices to assist these individuals.
Date: September 2010
Creator: Texas. Office of the State Auditor.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
An Audit Report on Selected Investment Practices at the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company, the Employees Retirement System, and the Texas A&M University System (open access)

An Audit Report on Selected Investment Practices at the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company, the Employees Retirement System, and the Texas A&M University System

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to investment practices in place at the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company (Texas Trust), the Employees Retirement System (ERS), and the Texas A&M University System (Texas A&M System), and the presence of and adherence to policies, procedures, and controls that were consistent with applicable statutory requirements of these practices.
Date: September 2010
Creator: Texas. Office of the State Auditor.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
An Audit Report on Compliance with Benefits Proportional by Fund Requirements at Selected State Entities (open access)

An Audit Report on Compliance with Benefits Proportional by Fund Requirements at Selected State Entities

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether entities required to pay benefits proportionally by fund complied with the Office of the Comptroller of Public Accounts' (Comptroller) Accounting Policy Statement (APS) 011 reporting requirements and processed needed adjustments to accomplish proportionality.
Date: September 2010
Creator: Texas. Office of the State Auditor.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
An Audit Report on Dual Credit Programs at Selected Public School Districts and Higher Education Institutions (open access)

An Audit Report on Dual Credit Programs at Selected Public School Districts and Higher Education Institutions

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether selected independent school districts (ISDs) and higher education institutions have designed and implemented dual credit programs to determine the validity and reliability of the data in those systems.
Date: September 2010
Creator: Texas. Office of the State Auditor.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Interim Report to the 82nd Texas Legislature: House Committee on State Affairs (open access)

Interim Report to the 82nd Texas Legislature: House Committee on State Affairs

Report from the Texas House Committee on State Affairs describing the group's goals, activities, accomplishments, and other information, for review by the 82nd Texas Legislature.
Date: September 27, 2010
Creator: Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives. State Affairs Committee.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water Issues in Texas : A Survey of Public Perceptions and Attitudes about Water (open access)

Water Issues in Texas : A Survey of Public Perceptions and Attitudes about Water

"The Texas AgriLife Extension Service facilitated a random sample survey of Texas residents to evaluate their awareness of, attitudes about and willingness to act on water issues. The results of this survey will be useful to citizens, local governments, state agencies and policy makers in planning for the future" (p. 6).
Date: September 2010
Creator: Boellstorff, Diane E.; Boleman, Chris T. & McFarland, Mark Lee
Object Type: Book
System: The Portal to Texas History
Peer grouping and performance measurement to improve rural and urban transit in Texas (open access)

Peer grouping and performance measurement to improve rural and urban transit in Texas

"Rural and small urban transit systems in Texas will become even more important with predicted changes in population trends. Rural demographic trends indicate growth in the number of persons age 65 and over coupled with a decrease in population density. Small urban area trends indicate substantial population growth and broadened geographic boundaries, yet resources to provide rural and small urban transit are limited. Therefore, transit managers find it is increasingly important to maximize service efficiency and effectiveness. The purpose of this research was to identify peer groups, performance benchmarks, and strategies used by successful transit providers to achieve high performance. The research project identifies peer groups based on the transit environment within which each agency operates, so that agencies can be compared to other operators who face similar environments. Peer group effectiveness and efficiency performance are examined within and between rural and urban peer groups, and high performers are identified for case studies. Through the case studies, key attributes are identified for achieving high operating efficiency and/or effectiveness. Performance strategies are categorized to provide transit providers with transferrable information to improve performance and increase the return on transit investment."
Date: September 2010
Creator: Arndt, Jeffrey C.; Edrington, Suzie; Sandidge, Matthew; Quadrifoglio, Luca & Perkins, Judy
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automated generation of virtual scenarios in driving simulator from highway design data (open access)

Automated generation of virtual scenarios in driving simulator from highway design data

"The current project explored ways to create custom roadway segments for use in the TTI driving simulator. The project initially attempted to use AutoCAD Civil 3D roadway drawings and export them for use in the simulator."
Date: September 2010
Creator: Zhao, Xi; Nelson, Alicia A.; Chrysler, Susan & Zhang, Yunlong
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Biofuels energy policy and grain transportation flows: implications for inland waterways and short sea shipping (open access)

Biofuels energy policy and grain transportation flows: implications for inland waterways and short sea shipping

"This project develops a foundation for analysis of the effects of U.S. bio-fuel energy policy on domestic and international grain flows and patterns."
Date: September 2010
Creator: Vedenov, Dmitry V.; Fuller, Stephen W.; Power, Gabriel; Ahmedov, Zafarbek; Vadali, Sharada & Burris, Mark
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
On jointly analyzing the physical activity participation levels of individuals in a family unit using a multivariate copula framework (open access)

On jointly analyzing the physical activity participation levels of individuals in a family unit using a multivariate copula framework

"The report focuses on analyzing and modeling the physical activity participation levels ( in terms of the number of daily "bouts" or "episodes" of physical activity during a weekend day) of all members of a family jointly."
Date: September 2010
Creator: Eluru, Naveen; Bhat, Chandra R. & Sener, Ipek N.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Robust pricing of transportation networks under uncertainty (open access)

Robust pricing of transportation networks under uncertainty

"This project will develop these models, which will be suitable either to determine the best pricing policies to maximize revenue or minimize congestion, or to evaluate alternative toll policies according to these metrics."
Date: September 2010
Creator: Gardner, Lauren Marie; Waller, S. Travis & Boyles, Stephen D.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Transportation for humanity: meeting the needs in the colonias (open access)

Transportation for humanity: meeting the needs in the colonias

"The goal of the research was to access the current transportation challenges facing residents of the colonias and determine the feasibility of vehicle procurement through donations or at-cost purchases from a variety of entities and/or individuals to support the program, and recommendations for alternative funding mechanisms to support the local community centers in their efforts to provide transportation to the colonias population."
Date: September 2010
Creator: Storey, Beverly B. & Jasek, Debbie
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Physically based model for predicting the susceptibility of asphalt pavements to moisture-induced damage (open access)

Physically based model for predicting the susceptibility of asphalt pavements to moisture-induced damage

"This study presents a novel moisture-induced continuum damage model for asphalt concrete."
Date: September 2010
Creator: Masad, Eyad; Graham, Michael A. & Abu Al-Rub, Rashid K.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Delivery of workshops on corridor management and preservation in Texas (open access)

Delivery of workshops on corridor management and preservation in Texas

"This report summarizes the delivery and outcome of a series of workshops conducted at 23 Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) districts across the state on corridor management and preservation in Texas. The workshops served as follow-up implementation work for research project 0-5606, "Creating Partnerships with Local Communities to Manage and Preserve Corridors." The report provides an overview of the project and documents the dates, locations, and attendance of workshops implemented during the three-year project period."
Date: September 2010
Creator: Bochner, Brian S. & Hard, Edwin N.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0796 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0796

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the conflict of interest provisions of chapter 171, Local Government Code, required two board members of the Uvalde County Underground Water Conservation District to disclose their respective interests and abstain from voting on a District rule (RQ-0853-GA).
Date: September 13, 2010
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0797 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0797

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Calculation of impact fees for a platted subdivision(RQ-0854-GA).
Date: September 20, 2010
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0798 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0798

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Method by which a hospital district may set an ad valorem tax rate when it has not set a tax rate since 1996(RQ-0856-GA).
Date: September 20, 2010
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0799 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0799

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Compensation of judges serving on a Juvenile board (RQ-0861-GA).
Date: September 22, 2010
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0800 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0800

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the exemption for the person engaged exclusively in the business of repossessing property, provided by section 1702.324(b)(3) of the Occupation Code,applies only to investigate services or to all services regulated under the private security act (RQ-0862-GA).
Date: September 22, 2010
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0801 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0801

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether an individual or a company in the business of breeding certain birds, rats, mice, hamsters and similar animals for sale to pet shops may register a vehicle or trailer used to transport the animals as a farm vehicle under section 502.163 of the Transportation code(RQ-0863-GA).
Date: September 22, 2010
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0802 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0802

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether an abortion facility may use either a prerecorded telephone message or a one-way conference call to furnish the information required to be provided by the section 171.012 of the health and safety code(RQ-0858-GA).
Date: September 24, 2010
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History