Independent Assessment of the Afghan National Security Forces. This assessment, tasked by the United States Congress, was made by analysts in CNA’s Center for Strategic Studies. This report (DRM-2014-U-006815-Final) is approved for distribution: January 2014. “We conclude that the security environment in Afghanistan will become more challenging after the drawdown of most international forces in 2014, and that the… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: February 2014
Pew – Mapping Twitter Topic Networks
Mapping Twitter Topic Networks: From Polarized Crowds to Community Clusters “Conversations on Twitter create networks with identifiable contours as people reply to and mention one another in their tweets. These conversational structures differ, depending on the subject and the people driving the conversation. Six structures are regularly observed: divided, unified, fragmented, clustered, and inward and… Continue Reading
Libraries Testing E-Book Interlibrary Loans
Jennifer Howard, Chronicle of Higher Education: “…Worried about security and sales, many publishers and vendors permit individual e-book chapters to be shared but don’t routinely include the lending of whole e-books in library contracts. Even when licenses do allow e-book lending, libraries typically lack the technology to make it work. You can’t just pop an… Continue Reading
Demanding Better Libraries For Today’s Complex World
Expect More Demanding Better Libraries For Today’s Complex World, R. David Lankes in New Librarianship “Today’s librarians are using the lessons learned over that nearly 3,000-year history to forge a new librarianship based not on books and artifacts but on knowledge and community. They are taking advantage of the technological leaps of today to empower our communities to improve.… Continue Reading
Report – Tracking deforestation as it happens
The Guardian, Oliver Balch: “The world’s first monitoring tool providing ‘near real time’ data on changes in forest cover could change how companies track deforestation in their supply chains. A new global mapping service…launched today, Global Forest Watch is pitched as the world’s first monitoring tool providing ‘near real time’ data on changes in forest cover. The brainchild of the World… Continue Reading
New GAO Report – Plutonium Disposition Program
PLUTONIUM DISPOSITION PROGRAM: DOE Needs to Analyze the Root Causes of Cost Increases and Develop Better Cost Estimates, GAO-14-231: Published: Feb 13, 2014. Publicly Released: Feb 13, 2014. “The Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) identified various drivers for the close to $3 billion increase in the estimated cost of the Plutonium Disposition program’s two… Continue Reading
Feasibility study on approaches to aggregate OTC derivatives data
Consultation Paper – Feasibility study on approaches to aggregate OTC derivatives data. Financial Stability Board. February 4, 2014. “A good deal of progress has been made in establishing the market infrastructure to support the commitment that all contracts be reported to TRs. However, the data will be reported to multiple TRs located in a number of jurisdictions. The… Continue Reading
Laws Affecting the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program
CFR – Laws Affecting the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Annie L. Mach, Analyst in Health Care Financing. Ada S. Cornell, Information Research Specialist, February 18, 2014 “The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) has been in existence for over 50 years. Since its creation, it has provided private health insurance coverage to federal employees, annuitants, and their dependents. It is… Continue Reading
Women in Science and Technology: What Does the Literature Say?
Inter-American Development Bank – Women in Science and Technology: What Does the Literature Say? Tacsir, Ezequiel; Grazzi, Matteo; Castillo, Rafael. Feb 2014 “Skill gaps are a key constraint to innovation, hindering productivity growth and economic development. In particular, shortages in the supply of trained professionals in disciplines related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) may weaken the innovation potential… Continue Reading
New Report on Impact of Camp Lejeune Past Water Contamination
Evaluation of mortality among marines and navy personnel exposed to contaminated drinking water at USMC base camp Lejeune: a retrospective cohort study, Environmental Health 2014, 13:10 doi:10.1186/1476-069X-13-10 “Two drinking water systems at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina were contaminated with solvents during 1950s-1985…There were 8,964 and 9,365 deaths respectively, in the Camp Lejeune and… Continue Reading
EIA – Syria Country Analysis Brief
Report – “Syria’s energy sector is in turmoil because of the ongoing hostilities between government and opposition forces. Syria’s oil and natural gas production has declined dramatically since March 2011 because of the conflict and because of the subsequent imposition of sanctions by the United States and European Union in particular. Syria’s energy sector is… Continue Reading
Who’s Borrowing Now? Change in Debt by Credit Score and Age Group
“The New York Fed’s Household Debt and Credit Report for 2013Q4 shows that net aggregate household borrowing has resumed, and our blog post discusses who is driving this change and how it compares with 2006. The charts here show contributions to changes in balances by borrower age and credit score (we use the Equifax Risk Score for these) for… Continue Reading
