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Monthly Archives: December 2013

New Climate Change Study Projects Continued and Severe Future Warming

Spread in model climate sensitivity traced to atmospheric convective mixing, Steven C. Sherwood, Sandrine Bony & Jean-Louis Dufresne. Nature. 505, 37–42 doi:10.1038/nature12829.

“This paper offers an explanation for the long-standing uncertainty in predictions of global warming derived from climate models. Uncertainties in predicted climate sensitivity — the magnitude of global warming due to an external influence — range from 1.5° C to 5° C for a doubling of atmospheric CO2. It has been assumed that uncertainties in cloud simulations are at the root of the model disparities, and here Steven Sherwood et al. examine the output of 43 climate models and demonstrate that about half of the total uncertainty in climate sensitivity can be traced to the varying treatment of mixing between the lower and middle troposphere — and mostly in the tropics. When constrained by observations, the authors’ modelling suggests that climate sensitivity is likely to exceed 3° C rather than the currently estimated lower limit of 1.5° C, thereby constraining model projections towards more severe future warming.”

2013 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary

Chief Justice’s Year-End Reports on the Federal Judiciary – December 31, 2013 “Sequestration cuts have affected court operations across the spectrum. There are fewer court clerks to process new civil and bankruptcy cases, slowing the intake procedure and propagating delays throughout the litigation process. There are fewer probation and pretrial services officers to protect the public from defendants awaiting… Continue Reading

A More Accountable Workforce Development System

Center for an Urban Future – COMMENTARY/OP-ED – DECEMBER 2013, by Christian González-Rivera “New York’s prosperity, today and in the years to come, will largely depend on the quality of its workforce. That’s why the state spends billions of dollars each year on educating and training future workers through the PK-12 system, public colleges and universities, workforce… Continue Reading

Finnish research team reveals how emotions are mapped in the body

News release: “Emotions adjust our mental and also bodily states to cope with the challenges detected in the environment. These sensations arising from the bodily changes are an important feature of our emotional experiences. For example, anxiety may be experienced as pain in the chest, whereas falling in love may trigger warm, pleasurable sensations all… Continue Reading

DOD Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap FY2013-2038

“The purpose of this Roadmap is to articulate a vision and strategy for the continued  development, production, test, training, operation, and sustainment of unmanned systems  technology across DoD. This Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap establishes a technological vision for the next 25 years and outlines actions and technologies for DoD and  industry to pursue to intelligently… Continue Reading

National Plan to Achieve Maritime Domain Awareness

“Today the White House released the National Maritime Domain Awareness Plan.  This plan promotes global maritime security and prosperity through improved governance to support the effective understanding of the maritime domain.  Notably, 90 percent of the world’s commerce moves by sea, making maritime security essential to the global supply chain and international trade Consistent with Presidential Policy Directive… Continue Reading

The Postmodernity of Big Data

The Postmodernity of Big Data By MICHAEL PEPI – In addressing the insecurities of postmodern thought, Big Data falls prey to some of the same issues of interpretation “Big Data fascinates because its presence has always been with us in nature. Each tree, drop of rain, and the path of each grain of sand, both responds to and creates… Continue Reading

World Welfare is Rising – NY Fed

World Welfare is Rising: Estimation Using Nonparametric Bounds on Welfare Measures – Maxim L. Pinkovskiy, Staff Report No. 662, December 2013 “I take a new approach to measuring world inequality and welfare over time by constructing robust bounds for these series instead of imposing parametric assumptions to compute point estimates. I derive sharp bounds on the Atkinson inequality index… Continue Reading

Costs for Hospital Stays in the United States, 2011

“Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) provides an annual overview of national statistics on inpatient hospital stays, including their associated costs, using data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. Costs for Hospital Stays in the United States, 2011, is a statistical brief that provides the most current data on costs for stays in community… Continue Reading

State of the Judiciary: Judicial Selection During Obama’s Second Term

Alliance for Justice Report – The State of the Judiciary – Judicial Selection During the 113th Congress, October 2013 “Throughout President Obama’s nearly five years in office, the federal courts have experienced an unprecedented vacancy crisis.  Congress returned from the August 2013 recess to a federal judiciary with 109 current and future vacancies, 45 pending nominees, and more… Continue Reading