Author archives

NYT – Ethereum, a Virtual Currency, Enables Transactions That Rival Bitcoin’s

New York Times: “A new virtual gold rush is underway. Even as Bitcoin, riven by internal divisions, has struggled, a rival virtual currency — known as Ethereum — has soared in value, climbing 1,000 percent over the last three months. Beyond the price spike, Ethereum is also attracting attention from giants in finance and technology, …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Economy, Financial System, Internet

UK Report – Cycling infrastructure: framework for evaluating economic and social impacts

Technopolis Group on behalf of the UK Department for Transport “This report presents the results of a study to research the options for robustly evaluating the economic and social impacts of investments in new or improved cycling infrastructure, in a mixture of different types of urban and rural areas. The report has been written for evaluation practitioners and commissioners, and while it attempts to avoid …

Subjects: Economy, Government Documents, Transportation

NYC population reaches milestone level of 8.5 miliion

Via Social Explorer: “New York City has officially reached over 8.5 million in population growth–a new milestone–according to newly released Census Bureau estimates, with Queens and the Bronx especially driving the growth. NY1 reporter Michael Scotto reports on changes across the city and interviews Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge about the numbers, which also reveal large …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents

NYPL – Photographers’ Identities Catalog

“Photographers’ Identities Catalog (PIC) is an experimental interface to a collection of biographical data describing photographers, studios, manufacturers, and others involved in the production of photographic images. Consisting of names, nationalities, dates, locations and more, PIC is a vast and growing resource for the historian, student, genealogist, or any lover of photography’s history. The information …

Subjects: Intellectual Property, Internet, Knowledge Management, Libraries

US Geological Survey Science Data Catalog

“The USGS Science Data Catalog provides seamless access to USGS research and monitoring data from across the nation. Users have the ability to search, browse, or use a map-based interface to discover data.” See also  Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Data Source: Core Science Analytics and Synthesis. Begin Date: Unknown. Mission Area: Core Science SystemsEnd Date: 12/31/2015. ITIS is an easily accessible database …

Subjects: E-Government, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines

Article – Ancient Rome dependent upon maritime insurance to sustain economy

Via Priceonomics: “In Ancient Rome, shipping was a very big deal. Sea voyages were a major economic activity—and a risky one. Ships sank, ran afoul of piracy, suffered delays due to weather, or arrived to find that prices were unexpectedly low. This made insuring and financing voyages the high finance of the time. Before there were …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Food and Nutrition

Eastern Monarch Butterflies at Risk of Extinction Unless Numbers Increase

Via USGS – “Long-term declines in the overwintering Eastern population of North American monarch butterflies are significantly increasing their likelihood of becoming extinct over the next two decades, according to Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and U.S. Geological Survey research published today. The new study, available in the journal Scientific Reports, found …

Subjects: Environmental Law, Government Documents

Paper – Web Data Knowledge Extraction

Web Data Knowledge Extraction. Juan M. Tirado, Ovidiu Serban, Qiang Guo, and Eiko Yoneki, University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, Cambridge, United Kingdom. March 24, 2016. “A constantly growing amount of information is available through the web. Unfortunately, extracting useful content from this massive amount of data still remains an open issue. The lack of standard …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management

Paper – Birdsong dialect patterns explained using magnetic domains

Birdsong dialect patterns explained using magnetic domains, James Burridge, Steven Kenney (Submitted on 12 Mar 2016). “The songs and calls of many bird species, like human speech, form distinct regional dialects. We suggest that the process of dialect formation is analogous to the physical process of magnetic domain formation. We take the coastal breeding grounds …

Subjects: Knowledge Management