Tag Archives: US

Madeleine Albright Chats with Henry Paulson about Career, Foreign Policy

By Guest PostFebruary 17, 2013Politicsafghanistan, albright capital management, albright stonebridge group, american involvement, arab leaders, best decision making, Britain, central, China, chinese embassy, co ed, conflict in bosnia, decision-making, do ability doctrine, eastern europe, economic, environmental challenges, foreign policy issues, france, global strategy firm, investment advisory firm, jon huntsman, madeleine albright, medal of freedom, multilateralism, munich agreement, native czechoslovakia, nazi germany, no fly zone, paulson institute, president barack obama, president bill clinton, presidential, robert b zoellick, secretary of state, soviet union, state department, syria, united states, university of chicago, US, us government history, us treasury secretary, world affairs, world bank, world war, years of communism

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told an audience at the University of Chicago that her worldview was shaped early in life, when she witnessed the impact the United States had during and immediately following World War II.

Albright explained how terrible things happened to her native Czechoslovakia, when Britain and France signed the Munich Agreement in 1938, allowing Nazi Germany to annex parts of Czechoslovakia without its consent. Only when the United States entered World War II did Czechoslovakia’s plight improve. However, after the war, when the United States and its allies allowed the Soviet Union to liberate Central and Eastern Europe, it led to 50 years of communism. (more…)

IBM Delivers New Services to Help Clients Move Enterprise Applications to the Cloud

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2013Technologyalbert mombarg, analytics, Argentina, australia, barcelona, big data, brazil, canada, cloud adoption, cloud based transactions, cloud center, cloud computing, cloud models, cloud service, cloud today, core application, crm, enterprise, erp, Europe, five continents, france, Germany, global delivery model, ibm, ibm sce, ibm smartcloud, innovative analytics, it, it environments, it sourcing arrangements, Japan, jim comfort, lifecycle, mobile computing, model, network, new center, online access, os instance, philips smart tv, roi, sap applications, sce, self service clouds, smartcloud enterprise, social business, spain, technology and innovation, US, vishal sikka, world map

Financial, healthcare, government and electronics clients tap IBM SmartCloud Enterprise+;
IBM SmartCloud for SAP Applications now available globally

ARMONK, N.Y. – 29 Jan 2013: IBM today announced global availability for its cloud service on five continents—plus a new center opening in Spain—based on its industry-leading sourcing business to host SAP® applications and other core operations. Now clients can turn to cloud computing for enterprise applications while reducing the overall cost of IT and at the same time, expanding online access and investing in innovative analytics, social business and mobile computing.

Many organizations are eager to leverage the economic advantages of cloud computing to run their critical applications on the cloud. These applications require deep technical expertise, around-the-clock customer service, tight security and ongoing maintenance – features typically found in IT sourcing arrangements but not in the “one-size-fits-all” model of self-service clouds. (more…)

Commentary: Lyle Goldstein: Sunshine Returns to the Korean Peninsula?

By Guest PostDecember 21, 2012Politicsamerican strategists, axis of evil, Beijing, blue house, China, china maritime studies, cold war, east asian nato, east asian security, inter korean tension, iraq war, Japan, korean peninsula, lee myung bak, lyle goldstein, military contingency, naval war college, new president, north korea, northeast asia, park geun hye, pivot to asia, President Bush, President Obama, pro american, pyongyang, recent missile test, relief, republic of korea, seoul, south korea, strategic reassurance, strategists in washington, sunshine policy, superpower, trilateral alliance, united states, US, us china relations, yalu river

On Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, Park Geun-hye was elected South Korea’s new president, making her the first woman to hold the title. It’s a victory some say signals the beginning of a new era for the tension-riddled region. Lyle Goldstein, International Relations program visiting faculty and associate professor in the China Maritime Studies Institute of the U.S. Naval War College, comments on what Park’s election means for the future of South Korea and the country’s relationship with the United States and China.

Park Geun-hye’s election will come as a major relief to many strategists in Washington, given her pro-American credentials. Her opponent was inclined to fully reinstate the “sunshine policy” of a decade ago, a disposition that would have no doubt entailed a more discriminating look at the newly invigorated U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance. Irrespective of which candidate came to occupy the Blue House, South Koreans seemed to be looking for more sunshine and less inter-Korean tension. (more…)

Frontline Employees Can Make or Break Retail and Service Companies

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012EconomyAmazon, analyst, best buy, chris derose, commercial workforce, company leader, down, employee, Google, hewlett packard, j c penney, management structure, michigan, noel tichy, retailers, ritz carlton, service companies, shopping cart, top, university, US, zappos

ANN ARBOR — Retailers and service companies still utilizing a top-down management structure likely don’t see the connection between the frontline and the bottom line until it’s too late, according to University of Michigan professor Noel Tichy.

In the U.S. alone, retail and service workers are estimated to total more than 15 million people, or nearly one-fifth of the U.S. commercial workforce. Despite the common corporate tag line about “people are our most important asset,” we don’t see many company leaders tap into more than a tiny percentage of the knowledge, creativity and judgment of their largest group of employees. (more…)

comScore Reports $41.9 Billion in Q3 2012 U.S. Retail E-Commerce Spending, Up 15 Percent vs. Year Ago

By Guest PostNovember 7, 2012Technology2012, apparel, Comscore, comscore chairman, double digit, ecommerce sale, ecommerce sector, Economy, estimate, event tickets, gian fulgoni, growth, growth rate, macroeconomic environment, q3, rate, retail, showrooming behavior, US, us consumer

comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni to Present Overview of Q3 2012 E-Commerce Trends in Upcoming Webinar

RESTON, VA, November 7, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its Q3 2012 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates, showing that online retail spending reached $41.9 billion for the quarter, up 15 percent versus year ago. This represents the twelfth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. (more…)

comScore Releases September 2012 U.S. Online Video Rankings

By Guest PostOctober 29, 2012Technologyadap, alloy digital, aol, brightroll video, Comscore, data, digital world, Facebook, fullscree, Google, hulu, internet user, machinima, network, online content, schmooru, site, US, vevo, video, video ad, view, Yahoo, YouTube

Maker Studios Inc. Climbs Into #3 Position in YouTube Partner Channels Ranking

RESTON, VA, October 29, 2012– comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 181 million U.S. Internet users watched more than 39 billion online content videos in September, while video ad views totaled 9.4 billion.

Top 10 Video Content Properties by Unique Viewers

Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in September with 150.3 million unique viewers, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 57.4 million, AOL, Inc. with 53.8 million, VEVO with 50.3 million and Facebook.com with 46.4 million. More than 39 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 13.1 billion, followed by AOL, Inc. with 741 million. Google Sites had the highest average engagement among the top ten properties. (more…)

Female Pulitzer Prize Winners Require Higher Qualifications, MU Study Finds

By Guest PostOctober 29, 2012Culture, General, Mediachinese university, compensational equality period, exclusionary period, female, formal equality period, francis lee, gender disparities, hong kong, ivy league, journalism, journalistic industry, male, metropolitan city, missouri, new york times, prestigious awards, pulitzer prize, society, statistical difference, stratification, university, US, winner, yong volz

Gender disparity in journalism still exists, but is improving

COLUMBIA, Mo. —The Pulitzer Prize in Journalism is one of the world’s most prestigious awards. Despite progress in the last few decades, gender disparities in the field of journalism have existed as long as the profession has. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that female Pulitzer Prize winners are more likely to have greater qualifications than their male counterparts in order to win the coveted award.

In a study to be published in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Yong Volz, an assistant professor of journalism studies in the MU School of Journalism, along with Francis Lee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, studied biographical data from all 814 historical winners of the Pulitzer Prize from 1917 to 2010. They found that the majority of the 113 female Pulitzer Prize winners enjoyed access to greater resources than the average male winner. (more…)

Not-So-Permanent Permafrost

By Guest PostOctober 26, 2012Environmentalaska, arctic permafrost, atmosphere, carbon, chemical cycles, climate change, climate prediction, climate warming, director, earth, ecosystems, Environment, fairbanks, frozen ground, gelisols, geological survey, jennifer harden, lakes, marcia mcnutt, mikhail kanevsiy, model, nitrogen, organic matter, peaty, rivers, scenarios, scientist, soil scientist, university, US, usgs, warmer planet, warming phenomenon, water resources

MENLO PARK, Calif. — As much as 44 billion tons of nitrogen and 850 billion tons of carbon stored in arctic permafrost, or frozen ground, could be released into the environment as the region begins to thaw over the next century as a result of a warmer planet according to a new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey. This nitrogen and carbon are likely to impact ecosystems, the atmosphere, and water resources including rivers and lakes. For context, this is roughly the amount of carbon stored in the atmosphere today.

The release of carbon and nitrogen in permafrost could exacerbate the warming phenomenon and will impact water systems on land and offshore according to USGS scientists and their domestic and international collaborators. The previously unpublished nitrogen figure is useful for scientists who are making climate predictions with computer climate models, while the carbon estimate is consistent and gives more credence to other scientific studies with similar carbon estimates. (more…)