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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici

Pessimism About the Future May Lead to Longer, Healthier Life, Research Finds

“Older people who have low expectations for a satisfying future may be more likely to live longer, healthier lives than those who see brighter days ahead, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. “Our findings revealed that being overly optimistic in predicting a better future was associated with a greater risk of… Continue Reading

CRS – Arms Control and Nonproliferation: A Catalog of Treaties and Agreements

CRS – Arms Control and Nonproliferation: A Catalog of Treaties and Agreements, February 20, 2013. Arms control and nonproliferation efforts are two of the tools that have occasionally been used to implement U.S. national security strategy. Although some believe these tools do little to restrain the behavior of U.S. adversaries, while doing too much to… Continue Reading

Visualizing Health Policy: The Public's Health Care Agenda for 2013

“This month’s JAMA/Kaiser Family Foundation infographic in the Visualizing Health Policy series takes a look at the U.S. public’s priorities for health care in 2013, including actions by state governments (such as creating a health insurance exchange or marketplace), Medicaid expansion, Medicare spending, and spending for specific types of public health activities.” Continue Reading

Trafficking in Persons: U.S. Policy and Issues for Congress

Trafficking in Persons: U.S. Policy and Issues for Congress, Alison Siskin, Specialist in Immigration Policy – Liana Sun Wyler, Analyst in International Crime and Narcotics – February 19, 2013 “Trafficking in persons (TIP) for the purposes of exploitation is believed to be one of the most prolific areas of contemporary international criminal activity and is… Continue Reading

New GAO Reports – Combating Autism Act, E-Health Records, Federal Real Property, Indian Affairs, Strategic Sourcing

Combating Autism Act – HHS Agencies Responded with New and Continuing Activities, Including Oversight, GAO-13-232, Feb 27, 2013 Electronic Health Records – Long History of Management Challenges Raises Concerns about VA’s and DOD’s New Approach to Sharing Health Information, GAO-13-413T, Feb 27, 2013 Federal Real Property – High-Risk Designation Remains due to Persistent Management Challenges,… Continue Reading

Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries

Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries – A Report from Ithaka S+R and the Association of Research Libraries. Nancy L. Maron, Ithaka S+R, Sarah Pickle, Ithaka S+R. February 2013 “Special collections have long been a vital part of libraries, offering users access to rare or archival materials and creating… Continue Reading

FDIC-Insured Institutions Earned $34.7 Billion in The Fourth Quarter of 2012

News release: “Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reported aggregate net income of $34.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012, a $9.3 billion (36.9 percent) improvement from the $25.3 billion in profits the industry reported in the fourth quarter of 2011. This is the 14th quarter in… Continue Reading

Public.Resource.Org's FedFlix – view government videotapes on the web

“FedFlix is a joint venture with the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) in cooperation with other government agencies including the National Archives. They send us government videotapes, we upload them to the Internet Archive, YouTube, and our own public domain stock footage video library — then we send the government back their videotapes and a… Continue Reading

FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile

Quarterly Banking Profile – February 26, 2013: “The fourth quarter 2012 comprehensive summary of financial results for all FDIC-insured institutions have been released.” See also – “QBP Statistics at a Glance provides the latest quarterly and historical data for FDIC-insured institutions, the Deposit Insurance Fund, and the number of FDIC employees beginning with the June… Continue Reading

CRS – Insourcing Functions Performed by Federal Contractors: Legal Issues

Insourcing Functions Performed by Federal Contractors: Legal Issues, Kate M. Manuel, Legislative Attorney – Jack Maskell, Legislative Attorney. February 22, 2013 “Recent Congresses and the Obama Administration have taken numerous actions to promote “insourcing,” or the use of government personnel to perform functions that contractors have performed on behalf of federal agencies. Among other things,… Continue Reading