OCLC's Role in the CONSER Project

The implementation of OCLC's claims component represents a significant investment in time and money in order to obtain automatic claims or identification of needed issues for perhaps three-quarters of the serial collection. At this early stage, a lack of experience and sureness in applying the component's capabilities to the vagaries of serial publications demands a certain fortitude. A number of concerns appear valid and cast a shadow on the hoped-for results. Implementation further means the establishment of a program for updating vital parts of the component. The training of a specialized team schooled in the nuances of publication schedules and in the synthesis of related library records, and capable of making possibly costly judgments forms the component's foundation. This followed by the training of check-in and related support staff will drive the component and determine its eventual success.     

The Future of Serials Cataloging,CONSER and the ISSN: Conversations from the Field

What does the future hold for the shape of serials to come and for cataloging these and other continuing resources? How should cataloging change to cope with still-unknown types of continuing resources? Will there still be a need for cataloging? For CONSER? For ISSN? How can libraries position themselves to partner with nonlibrary metadata creators in a future linked data environment? Four serials experts discuss these and other questions in a free-ranging conversation about the future of serials cataloging.     

Electronic Journal Forum: Defining an “Access Level” Catalog Record Using MARC 21 and AACR2

Abstract

The Library of Congress (LC) is in the process of developing a new level of MARC 21 and AACR2 cataloging for non-serial Internet resources called “access” level. This article briefly describes the impetus behind the creation of this new standard, information about the proposed standard itself, and the results of a test conducted at LC using the core data set and cataloging guidelines. The future plans of the Library for implementing and possibly expanding the use of access level are identified.     

Analysis and modelling of wind speed in New York

In this paper we propose an ARMA time-series model for the wind speed at a single spatial location, and estimate it on in-sample data recorded in three different wind farm regions in New York state. The data have a three-hour granularity, but based on applications to financial wind derivatives contracts, we also consider daily average wind speeds. We demonstrate that there are large discrepancies in the behaviour of daily average and three-hourly wind speed records. The validation procedure based on out-of-sample observations reflects that the proposed model is reliable and can be used for various practical applications, like, for instance, weather prediction, pricing of financial wind contracts, wind generated power, etc. Furthermore, we discuss some striking resemblances with temperature dynamics.     

New information from the State Committee on Statistics of the USSR

Selected data concerning the USSR are presented. They concern vital statistics by republic for 1989 for rural and urban areas, birth order, life expectancy by sex, and population change and vital statistics for cities with a population over one million.     

国有股、法人股全额流通的新思路

国有股、法人股在 A股市场的部分减持以致全额流通问题 ,是一个热点、难点问题。文章提出在解决国有股、法人股在 A股市场全额流通时 ,用免费出让部分国有股、法人股的股份给现有流通股持有者的方式 ,来换取在 A股市场的全额流通权。这种思路不但不会改变现有的资金供应局面 ,而且也不会造成国有资产流失 ,更不会对 A股市场造成冲击。     

Trend and Return Level of Extreme Snow Events in New York City

Abstract

A major winter storm brought up to 42 inches of snow in parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states for January 22–24, 2016. The blizzard of January 2016 impacted about 102.8 million people, claiming at least 55 lives and $500 million to $3 billion in economic losses. This article studies two important aspects of extreme snowfall events: 1. trends in annual maxima and threshold exceedances and 2. return levels for extreme snowfall. Applying extreme value methods to the extreme snow data in the New York City area, we quantify linear trends in extreme snowfall and assess how severe the 2016 blizzard is in terms of return levels. To find a more realistic standard error for the extreme value methods, we extend Smith’s method to adapt to both spatial and temporal correlations in the snow data. Our results show increasing, but insignificant trends in the annual maximum snowfall series. However, we find that the 87.5th percentile snowfall has significantly increased by 0.564 inches per decade, suggesting that, while the maximum snowfall is not significantly increasing, there have been increases in the snowfall among the larger storms. We also find that the 2016 blizzard is indeed an extreme snow event equivalent to about a 40-year return level in the New York City area. The extreme value methods used in this study are thoroughly illustrated for general readers. Data and modularized programming codes are to be available online to aid practitioners in using extreme value methods in applications.