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Daily Archives: April 14, 2013

World military spending falls, but China, Russia’s spending rises, says SIPRI

News release: “World military expenditure totalled $1.75 trillion in 2012, a fall of 0.5 per cent in real terms since 2011, according to figures released today by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The comprehensive annual update of the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database is accessible here. The fall—the first since 1998—was driven by major spending cuts in the USA and Western and Central Europe, as well as in Australia, Canada and Japan. The reductions were, however, substantially offset by increased spending in Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America. China, the second largest spender in 2012, increased its expenditure by 7.8 per cent ($11.5 billion). Russia, the third largest spender, increased its expenditure by 16 per cent ($12.3 billion). Despite the drop, the global total was still higher in real terms than the peak near the end of the cold war. ‘We are seeing what may be the beginning of a shift in the balance of world military spending from the rich Western countries to emerging regions, as austerity policies and the drawdown in Afghanistan reduce spending in the former, while economic growth funds continuing increases elsewhere,’ said Dr Sam Perlo-Freeman, Director of SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. ‘However, the USA and its allies are still responsible for the great majority of world military spending. The NATO members together spent a trillion dollars…In 2012 the USA’s share of world military spending went below 40 per cent for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union. A declining trend that began in 2011 accelerated in 2012, with a drop in US military spending of 6 per cent in real terms to $682 billion.”

ACLU – Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics

“On May 12, 2009, the ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) filed a lawsuit charging that patents on two human genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2, are unconstitutional and invalid. On November 30, 2012, the Supreme Court agreed to hear argument on the patentability of human genes [via SCOTUSblog]. The… Continue Reading

Wharton – CDOs Are Back: Will They Lead to Another Financial Crisis?

Knowledge@Wharton: “Collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), the bad boys of the financial crisis of 2008, are coming back. CDOs are securities that hold different types of debt, such as mortgage-backed securities and corporate bonds, which are then sliced into varying levels of risk and sold to investors. With the Federal Reserve committed to keeping interest rates… Continue Reading

Researchers invent better single-photon emitter for quantum cryptography

R&D News: “In a development that could make the advanced form of secure communications known as quantum cryptography more practical, University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated a simpler, more efficient single-photon emitter that can be made using traditional semiconductor processing techniques. Single-photon emitters release one particle of light, or photon, at a time, as opposed… Continue Reading

McKinsey: Innovators are using big data and analytics to sharpen risk assessment and drive revenue

How advanced analytics are redefining banking: “In search of growth, banks are increasingly analyzing the massive amounts of data they collect to sharpen their decision-making processes. In a new video interview, on mckinsey.com, McKinsey director Toos Daruvala explains how three banks are applying analytics in different ways to gain a competitive edge… Three related articles,… Continue Reading

Careers in the growing field of information technology services

Careers in the growing field of information technology services, by Lauren Csorny. April 2013 “Computers and information technology (IT) touch nearly every aspect of modern life. Information technology can help with such diverse tasks as driving motor vehicles and diagnosing diseases. IT enables seamless integration and communication between businesses anywhere in the world. To keep… Continue Reading

What Can We Learn by Disaggregating the Unemployment – Vacancy Relationship?

What Can We Learn by Disaggregating the Unemployment-Vacancy Relationship?, Public Policy Brief No. 12-3, by Rand Ghayad and William Dickens, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, October 2012. “The Beveridge curve—the empirical relationship between unemployment and job vacancies—is thought to be an indicator of the efficiency of the functioning of the labor market. Normally, when job… Continue Reading

Moral Science: Protecting Participants in Human Subjects Research

“The Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues today issued its report concerning federally-sponsored research involving human volunteers, concluding that current rules and regulations provide adequate safeguards to mitigate risk. In its report, Moral Science: Protecting Participants in Human Subjects Research, the Commission also recommended 14 changes to current practices to better protect research… Continue Reading