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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici

International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications 2013

PDFs for papers, posters, special sessions, tutorials and workshops Metadata principles, guidelines, and best practices Metadata quality (methods, tools, and practices) Conceptual models and frameworks (e.g., RDF, DCAM, OAIS) Application profiles Metadata generation (methods, tools, and practices) Metadata interoperability across domains, languages, time, structures, and scales Cross-domain metadata uses (e.g., recordkeeping, preservation, curation, institutional repositories,… Continue Reading

Climate Change and Existing Law: A Survey of Legal Issues Past, Present, and Future

CRS – Climate Change and Existing Law: A Survey of Legal Issues Past, Present, and Future, Robert Meltz, Legislative Attorney, August 28, 2013 “This report surveys existing law for legal issues that have arisen, or may arise in the future, on account of climate change and government responses thereto. At the threshold of many climate-change-related… Continue Reading

CRS: Immigration-Related Worksite Enforcement: Performance Measures

Immigration-Related Worksite Enforcement: Performance Measures, Andorra Bruno, Specialist in Immigration Policy, August 7, 2013 “In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued new guidance on immigration related worksite enforcement. Under the guidelines, DHS “will use all available civil and administrative tools, including civil fines and debarment, to penalize and deter illegal employment.” According to… Continue Reading

HomeTruths: Domestic Workers in California

“Domestic workers play a significant role in the California economy, yet these workers are vulnerable to substandard  employment because their work is both invisible and largely excluded from employment protections. Nannies, caregivers,  and housecleaners, hired directly by their employers, are not subject to a range of protections that apply to other workers. They are excluded from… Continue Reading

Report – Nearly Half of U.S. Jobs Are Vulnerable to Computerization

MIT Technology Review: “Rapid advances in technology have long represented a serious potential threat to many jobs ordinarily performed by people. A recent report (which is not online, but summarized here) from the Oxford Martin School’s Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology attempts to quantify the extent of that threat. It concludes that 45… Continue Reading

Center for Public Integrity: three-part series on what has happened since the meltdown

“In the fall of 2008, the U.S. economy nearly collapsed thanks to an unprecedented wave of mortgage foreclosures. In “After the Meltdown — Where are they now?” the Center for Public Integrity revisits the subprime lenders, Wall Street banks and government regulators that were most responsible for the crash — and finds few if any… Continue Reading

Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction issues final report to Congress

September 2013: Quarterly Report To Congress “SIGIR’s successive congressional expansions and extensions proved profitable. Over nine-plus years of existence, the organization cost about $245 million to operate, while providing more than $1.8 billion in financial benefits, including nearly $645 million in direct savings from SIGIR’s audits and more than $192 million in seizures and court-ordered monetary… Continue Reading

The Relationship Between Gun Ownership and Firearm Homicide Rates in the United States, 1981-2010

The Relationship Between Gun Ownership and Firearm Homicide Rates in the United States, 1981-2010. Michael Siegel, MD, MPH, Craig S. Ross, MBA, and Charles King III, JD, PhD. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print September 12, 2013: e1–e8. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2013.301409) “Objectives. We examined the relationship between levels of household firearm ownership, as measured directly… Continue Reading

Can the Internet of Everything bring back the High-Growth Economy?

This article by Michael Mandel – who is the chief economic strategist at the Progressive Policy Institute and a senior fellow at Wharton’s Mack Institute for Innovation Management: “The United States and the other major advanced economies are currently stuck in a seemingly endless twilight of slow growth. The numbers are ugly: The April 2013… Continue Reading

FISA Court Orders Declassification Review of Rulings on NSA

ACLU: “In an important decision, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ordered the government to review for release the court’s opinions on the meaning, scope, and constitutionality of Section 215 of the Patriot Act. The ruling is on a motion filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of the Nation’s Capital, and Yale Law… Continue Reading

Disability Shocks Near Retirement Age and Financial Well-Being

“Using Health and Retirement Study data, we examine three groups of adults aged 51–56 in 1992 with different disability experiences over 8 years. Our analysis reveals three major findings. First, people who started and stayed nondisabled experienced stable financial security, with improvement in household wealth despite labor force withdrawal. Second, the newly disabled—people who started as nondisabled… Continue Reading

OASDI Beneficiaries by State and ZIP Code, 2012

“This annual publication focuses on the Social Security beneficiary population at the ZIP Code level. It presents basic program data on the number and type of beneficiaries and the amount of benefits paid in each state, Social Security Administration field office, and ZIP Code. It also shows the number of beneficiaries aged 65 or older.” Continue Reading