RAWS: The spaceborne radar wind sounder

The concept of the Radar Wind Sounder (RAWS) is discussed. The goals of the RAWS is to estimate the following three qualities: the echo power, to determine rain rate and surface wind velocity; the mean Doppler frequency, to determine the wind velocity in hydrometers; and the spread of the Doppler frequency, to determine the turbulent spread of the wind velocity. Researchers made significant progress during the first year. The feasibility of the concept seems certain. Studies indicate that a reasonably sized system can measure in the presence of ice clouds and dense water clouds. No sensitivity problems exist in rainy environments. More research is needed on the application of the radar to the measurement of rain rates and winds at the sea surface

A primer on noise-induced transitions in applied dynamical systems

Noise plays a fundamental role in a wide variety of physical and biological dynamical systems. It can arise from an external forcing or due to random dynamics internal to the system. It is well established that even weak noise can result in large behavioral changes such as transitions between or escapes from quasi-stable states. These transitions can correspond to critical events such as failures or extinctions that make them essential phenomena to understand and quantify, despite the fact that their occurrence is rare. This article will provide an overview of the theory underlying the dynamics of rare events for stochastic models along with some example applications

The Case against a Tennessee Income Tax

On November 2 the Tennessee legislature will convene a special session to debate reform of the state tax system. The center of the controversy is whether Tennessee should adopt a personal income tax, as proposed by Gov. Don Sundquist, to close an estimated $400 million budget shortfall. This study finds that a personal income tax in Tennessee would likely have two negative economic effects. First, an income tax would almost certainly reduce economic growth and job creation in the state. The absence of an income tax in Tennessee gives Tennessee a large competitive advantage over other states with which it competes for jobs and businesses. We find, for example, that Kentucky, a state very similar to Tennessee except that it has an income tax, has had considerably weaker economic performance since 1980. Between 1980 and 1998 the per capita economic growth rate of Tennessee was 47 percent compared to 36 percent in Kentucky. The second negative effect of a state income tax would be to trigger much faster growth in state expenditures. That has been the almost universal pattern in other states after they enacted a state income tax. Yet the premise of pro-income tax forces in Tennessee that the state's revenues have been growing too slowly is contradicted by the evidence. In the 1990s, even without an income tax, Tennessee's per capita tax receipts have grown 12th fastest among the 50 states. Tennessee's tax revenues have climbed at twice the rate of inflation plus population growth. The legislature should be cutting taxes, not introducing new ones

The behavior of federal funds futures prices over the monetary policy cycle

The federal funds futures market enables market participants to both hedge interest rate risk and speculate on interest rate movements. Prices of federal funds futures also reveal market participants' expectations about changes in Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy. This information allows monetary policymakers to assess the degree to which asset prices already reflect potential policy moves and these prices' likely reaction to policy changes that deviate from market expectations. ; This article examines the relationship between U.S. monetary policy changes and futures market participants' ability to forecast these changes. Previous research has shown the federal funds futures market to be a relatively good forecaster of changes in the fed funds rate on average. But these studies treated futures market data as a single sample and failed to take into account the significant changes in forecast error behavior over different periods of the monetary policy cycle. ; The authors find that futures market forecast error mean and variance differ substantially over various stages of the monetary policy cycle, with overall performance improving considerably in the latter half of the 1990s before deteriorating sharply through 2000 and 2001. The data also reveal both substantial overshooting and undershooting by futures prices around turning points in the path of the funds rate. Finally, the evidence suggests that increased disclosures of information by the FOMC during the past decade have played only a minor role in improving futures market participants' forecasting performance.Federal funds market (United States) ; Monetary policy

The Coaching Workforce Survey 2010 - Baseline Report

This report provides information for Sport Northern Ireland on the characteristics of sports coaching in Northern Ireland and the issues and opportunities that coaches face. A sample of sports coaches responded to an online questionnaire promoted through governing bodies of sport. 1,679 coaches provided responses to the survey, of whom 1,467 were resident in Northern Ireland. The dominance of three sports in terms of participation is reflected in the survey. Coaches in football (176), Gaelic football (211) and rugby union (229) accounted for 42% of responses to the survey. Hockey coaches (143) accounted for a further 10%. As London 2012 approaches, the timing of the survey in 2010 allows an impression to be gained of coaches. On the one hand, the coaching workforce is young, well educated and well qualified. Furthermore, coaches are keen to develop their coaching skills. On the other hand, the majority of coaching is done on a voluntary basis by people who are married and hold down full-time jobs, generating conflicting demands. Survey responses confirm the importance of clubs in providing facilities and coaching opportunities for adults and juniors - 84% of coaches deliver sessions in a club setting. Sports coaching in Northern Ireland is very reliant on volunteers, particularly in the club context. The relatively small numbers of paid staff in the workforce are employed mainly by governing bodies and local authorities. Most coaches responding to the survey possess a valid coaching qualification and, of these, 39% are qualified at Level 2 or above. There is a clear desire expressed by a significant number of coaches to develop as coaches and achieve higher level qualifications in the process. Coaches frequently cite time and cost as the most significant barriers to their progress through the system. Coaches in Northern Ireland are well educated and well motivated, with most expressing a desire to develop as a coach. The overwhelming majority aim to continue coaching for the foreseeable future. They frequently identify and implement innovative solutions to the challenges of coaching, and exhibit a high degree of commitment to their roles