CRS – Keeping Americas Pipelines Safe and Secure: Key Issues for Congress, Paul W. Parfomak, Specialist in Energy and Infrastructure Policy, February 13, 2012 “Nearly half a million miles of pipeline transporting natural gas, oil, and other hazardous liquids crisscross the United States. While an efficient and fundamentally safe means of transport, many pipelines carry… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: February 2012
Stochastic Herding in Financial Markets Evidence from Institutional Investor Equity Portfolios
Stochastic Herding in Financial Markets Evidence from Institutional Investor Equity Portfolios by Makoto Nirei, Theodoros Stamatiou and Vladyslav Sushko, BIS Working Papers No 371, February 2012 “We estimate a structural model of herding behavior in which feedback arises due to mutual concerns of traders over the unobservable “true” level of market liquidity. In a herding… Continue Reading
Pew – The Rise of Intermarriage Rates, Characteristics Vary by Race and Gender
The Rise of Intermarriage – Rates, Characteristics Vary by Race and Gender, by Wendy Wang “This report analyzes the demographic and economic characteristics of newlyweds who marry spouses of a different race or ethnicity, and compares the traits of those who marry out with those who marry in. The newlywed pairs are grouped by the… Continue Reading
Foreclosure in California – A Crisis of Compliance
Foreclosure in California – A Crisis of Compliance, February 2012 “The City and County of San Franciscos Office of the Assessor‐Recorder retained Aequitas Compliance Solutions, Inc. to review 382 residential mortgage loan transactions (the subject loans) that resulted in foreclosure sales that occurred from January 2009 through October 2011. Over this period, there were 2,405… Continue Reading
OCLC Announces Downloadable Version of FAST Now Available
News release: “OCLC Research has made FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) available for bulk download, along with some minor improvements based on user feedback and routine updates. As with other FAST data, the bulk downloadable versions are available at no charge. FAST is an enumerative, faceted subject heading schema derived from the Library of… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Early Child Care and Education, Law Enforcement Body Armor, U.S. Coins, Workforce Investment Act
Early Child Care and Education – HHS and Education Are Taking Steps to Improve Workforce Data and Enhance Worker Quality, GAO-12-248, Feb 15, 2012 Law Enforcement Body Armor – DOJ Could Enhance Grant Management Controls and Better Ensure Consistency in Grant Program Requirements, GAO-12-353, Feb 15, 2012 Law Enforcement Body Armor – DOJ Supports Its… Continue Reading
NYT: Flaw Found in an Online Encryption Method
NYT: “A team of European and American mathematicians and cryptographers have discovered an unexpected weakness in the encryption system widely used worldwide for online shopping, banking, e-mail and other Internet services intended to remain private and secure. The flaw which involves a small but measurable number of cases has to do with the… Continue Reading
Computerworld: Researchers crack online encryption system
Computerworld – “An online encryption method widely used to protect banking, email, e-commerce and other sensitive Internet transactions is not as secure as assumed, according to a report issued by a team of U.S and European cryptanalysts. The researchers reviewed millions of public keys used by websites to encrypt online transactions and found a small… Continue Reading
Public Comments on the Volker Rule Posted by Regulators
Federal Reserve – Comments Continue Reading
January 2012 the 19th warmest for the globe
State of the Climate – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Global temperature highlights: January 2012 “The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for January 2012 was the 19th warmest on record at 54.30°F (12.39°C), which is 0.70°F (0.39°C) above the 20th century average of 53.6°F (12.0°C). The margin of error associated with this… Continue Reading
Making Smart Cuts: Lessons from the 1990s Budget Front
Making Smart Cuts: Lessons from the 1990s Budget Front: “Budget cuts are here. The cuts that are emerging from the stormy deficit debates that raged in Washington for months in 2011, in an attempt to set the nation back on a path to fiscal health, are sure to affect federal agencies and the people they… Continue Reading
Pew Report – Evidence That Americas Voter Registration System Needs an Upgrade
“Approximately 24 million active voter registrations in the United States are no longer valid or have significant inaccuracies, according to the Pew Center on the States. Research in Pew’s report, Inaccurate, Costly, and Inefficient, underscores the need for registration systems that better maintain voter records, save money, and streamline processes. This is an effort that… Continue Reading
