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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici

Are We Killing the Rain? Meditations on the Water Cycle and, More Particularly, on Bioprecipitation

Cohen, Jane M., Are We Killing the Rain? Meditations on the Water Cycle and, More Particularly, on Bioprecipitation (April 30, 2012). Water International, iFirst, 2012, pp. 1–13; Energy Center Research Paper No. 2014-02. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2458027 “Multi-disciplinary research on “bioprecipitation” advances the hypothesis that atmospheric ice nucleators of biological origin may be a highly-adapted causal… Continue Reading

New GAO Reports – Advanced Reactor Research, Debt Management, DOD Financial Management, Maritime Security, Medicaid, Telecommunications, Spina Bifida

ADVANCED REACTOR RESEARCH: DOE Supports Multiple Technologies, but Actions Needed to Ensure a Prototype Is Built, GAO-14-545: Published: Jun 23, 2014. Publicly Released: Jun 23, 2014. DEBT MANAGEMENT: Floating Rate Notes Can Help Treasury Meet Borrowing Goals, but Additional Actions Are Needed to Help Manage Risk, GAO-14-535: Published: Jun 16, 2014. Publicly Released: Jun 23, 2014. DEBT MANAGEMENT: Survey of Investors in… Continue Reading

Iraq: Politics, Governance, and Human Rights

CRS – Iraq: Politics, Governance, and Human Rights, Kenneth Katzman, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs. June 13, 2014 “Since the 2011 U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq, sectarian and ethnic divisions have widened, fueling a revival of a Sunni Muslim insurgent challenge to Iraq’s stability. Iraq’s Sunni Arab Muslims resent Shiite political domination and perceived discrimination by the government of… Continue Reading

The Dynamics of Political Interest and News Media Consumption: A Longitudinal Perspective

“For democracy to function correctly, citizens need to have an adequate level of political knowledge on which to judge political representatives. Media use is generally regarded as being one of the key factors affecting the distribution of this information, but how has the greater media choice provided through the Internet and other mediums affected the… Continue Reading

State & Trends Report Charts Global Growth of Carbon Pricing

“Globally, 39 national and 23 sub-national jurisdictions have implemented or are scheduled to implement carbon pricing instruments, including emissions trading systems and taxes. The world’s emissions trading schemes are valued at about $30 billion, with China now housing the world’s second largest carbon market, covering the equivalent of 1,115 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.… Continue Reading

Securities Lending and the Untold Story in the Collapse of AIG

“American International Group Inc. (AIG), a worldwide insurance powerhouse, avoided bankruptcy in 2008 thanks to generous bailouts from the federal government. Understanding what happened to AIG is critical in evaluating the regulatory reforms enacted since the crisis, and ascertaining whether earlier implementation of those reforms would have prevented the AIG bailout and whether the reforms… Continue Reading

Why do people persist in believing things that aren’t true?

Maria Konnikova, New Yorker [snipped] – “Last month, Brendan Nyhan, a professor of political science at Dartmouth, published the results of a study that he and a team of pediatricians and political scientists had been working on for three years. They had followed a group of almost two thousand parents, all of whom had at least one… Continue Reading

New on LLRX – The sad reasons why Amazon’s #1 reading city doesn’t belong on the list

Via LLRX.com – The sad reasons why Amazon’s #1 reading city doesn’t belong on the list – In this article David Rothman highlights the backstory on Amazon’s new list of America’s “Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities,” based on its sales of books, magazines and newspapers. As has been the case previously, the winner is Alexandria, Virginia, his hometown, which… Continue Reading

The USA FREEDOM Act (H.R. 3361) as Passed by The US House

Via cdt – “The USA FREEDOM Act (H.R. 3361) is the most significant national security surveillance reform legislation in more than a decade. The bill was watered down in the House prior to final passage, prompting CDT, other public interest groups, and many major technology companies to withdraw support for the bill. CDT is urging the Senate to make… Continue Reading

Evidence review of the economic contribution of libraries

Foreword from Arts Council England, Final Report June 2014: “Every day, across England a wide range of people walk into their library, or visit their library online to do an extraordinary range of things: borrow a book or DVD, attend a training session, track down some crucial information, meet a friend or client, study quietly and… Continue Reading

Town shuts down boy’s ‘little free library’ for alleged detached structure violation – ABA Journal

Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal – “A 9-year-old Kansas boy and his family have moved their “little free library” after their town said it violated city code banning detached structures in the front yards of single-family homes. Spencer Collins and his parents moved the library to the garage after the town of Leawood warned in a letter… Continue Reading