Commissary

Abstract: In August 1992, the Michigan Department of Public Health was notified of a cluster of persons with Shigella flexneri infections, all of whom had eaten at different outlets of a single restaurant chain. The chain prepared many foods at a central kitchen. A matched case-control study to determine risk factors for illness among patrons of the restaurant chain was undertaken. An inspection of the commissary and a review of commissary inspection and employee records were conducted. Of the 46 patients identified, 44 had eaten tossed salad versus 33 of the 71 controls (matched odds ratio = 56.9; 95 percent confidence interval 5.0, 648.1). Improper salad preparation techniques were used, and the salad preparation area had not been inspected in several years. Some salad preparers had been ill shortly before the outbreak but continued to work. The greater use of central kitchens could lead to larger outbreaks of illness related to improper food handling. Raw vegetables are a potential vehicle for transmission of shigellosis. Coordination of all agencies responsible for inspecting commissaries should be assured. Assuring restriction of ill food handlers will require management to take an active role in identification of ill employees and in the development of incentives to report illness.

Abstract: A commissary system for receiving and processing commissary orders using a premise-based telephone system of an institution such as a jail or correctional facility without accessing a PSTN. User-provided identifier information and item selection information is entered into the commissary system through selected telephones of the premise-based telephone system. User status and inventory information stored in a memory device coupled to a processor are compared with the user provided identifier and item selection information by the processor, according to selected authorization criteria. These criteria may include sufficiency of the user's account balance, item availability, and scope of the user's commissary privileges. The processor generates transaction records for user identified items that meet the authorization criteria, automatically adjusts inventory and user status information, and stores the records in a file where they may be downloaded for record keeping purposes.

Abstract: In March 1996, Vice-President Gore announced a new initiative that would dramatically change the way federal agencies provide services to the public. Gore's proposal is to establish many service delivery functions' within the federal government as performance-based organizations (PBO's). This model has two key elements: organizations would be freed from many of the laws, regulations, and policies that normally constrain managers within government; and new incentives would be created to improve performance. Executives working in performance-based organizations would be hired on short-term contracts, with pay and tenure contingent on their success in meeting annual performance targets (National Performance Review, 1996a, 6-7). This plan is modeled on a reform of the British public service begun by the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1988. In the last eight years, most of the British civil service has been reorganized into a set of executive agencies that are given more flexibility in administration and expected to meet annual performance targets. The heads of these executive agencies are no longer career civil servants; instead, they are recruited from either the private or public sector, hired on limited-term contracts, and given performance-related pay. Similar reforms have been made within the New Zealand public service (Boston et al, 1996), and on a much smaller scale in Canada (Aucoin, 1995, 146-48). Ten organizations, accounting for about 2 percent of the federal civilian work force have been identified as candidates for this reform (Table 1). However, advocates of the plan suggest that it can be applied much more widely. David Osborne, a coauthor of Reinventing Government, says that three-quarters of the federal bureaucracy could be transformed into performance-based organizations by the year 2004 (1997, 97-98). A senior official of the Office of Management and Budget also says that "significant areas of the federal government" would benefit from this reorganization (Koskinen, 1996). During the 1996 election campaign, President Clinton suggested that hundreds of performance-based orgainizations might be established within the federal government (Clinton, 1996). The President recently said that this plan will be a priority for his second term (OMB, 1997, 37). Table 1 Candidates for Performance-Based Organization Status Organization Department Patent and Trademark Office Commerce National Technical Information Service Commerce Defense Commissary Agency Defense Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Agriculture Federal Housing Administration HUD Government National Mortgage Association HUD Office of Retirement Programs OPM St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation Transportation U.S. Mint Treasury Sea-food Inspection Program Commerce Organization 1996 FTEs Patent and Trademark Office 5,237 National Technical Information Service 406 Defense Commissary Agency 17,612 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 5,300 Federal Housing Administration 4,544 Government National Mortgage Association 72 Office of Retirement Programs 921 St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation 168 U.S. Mint 2,347 Sea-food Inspection Program 200 Organization Date Announced Patent and Trademark Office September 1995 National Technical Information Service September 1995 Defense Commissary Agency March 1996 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service March 1996 Federal Housing Administration March 1996 Government National Mortgage Association March 1996 Office of Retirement Programs March 1996 St. …

Abstract: Preface and acknowledgments Part I. Prelude: 1826-1904: 1. The quest for an American canal, 1826-1903 2. 'I took the isthmus', 1903-4 Part II. Beginnings: 1904-29: 3. The zone regime 4. The labour force 5. The Commissary 6. The protectorate 7. Canal defence Part III. Transitions: 1930-55: 8. The zone regime 9. The labour force 10. The commissary 11. Partnership politics 12. Canal defence Part IV. Recessional: 1956-79: 13. 'Mandate from civilization'?, Map of the Canal Zone Appendices Bibliography.