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Tuesday, 5 March 2013
1. UC Berkeley and UCLA ranked among top 10 universities worldwide
Los Angeles Times Online
UC Berkeley again ranked 5th in the Times Higher Education's 2013 World Reputation Rankings. The evaluations are based on a survey of more than 16,000 senior academics. Stories on this topic appeared in dozens of sources worldwide, including the Times Higher Education, Guardian, BBC, and Huffington Post. Full Story
2. Op-Ed: The Real Promise of 'Accountable Care'
Wall Street Journal (*requires registration)
Stephen Shortell, dean of Berkeley's School of Public Health, co-authors a commentary advocating a transition away from conventional fee-for-service insurance to an accountable care organization (ACO) payment model, which pays providers more for achieving better care at a lower cost. Unlike 1990s-style HMOs, the ACO model wouldn't allow health-care providers to keep savings from lowered costs unless they show measurable quality improvements. The authors conclude: "The early evidence from private and public ACOs suggests that real savings are possible. The right direction for health-care policy is to build on ACO successes through further steps to reward low-cost innovation, while steering support away from health-care providers who are unwilling to change." Link by subscription only. Full Story
3. Obituary: Donald Glaser, Nobel Winner in Physics, Dies at 86
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
Donald Glaser, a Nobel Prize-winning Berkeley physicist who invented the bubble chamber -- a device for making the world of subatomic particles visible -- died February 28, at the age of 86. An emeritus professor, his research interests spanned nuclear physics, molecular biology, and neuroscience. Data produced by his bubble chamber led physicists to the conclusion that most particles of matter, like protons and neutrons, are composed of even smaller particles called quarks. Other obituaries of Professor Glaser appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Telegraph, and The Age. Full Story
4. Yellen Says Fed Should Press on With QE Amid Limited Risk
Bloomberg
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Janet Yellen, a Berkeley economics professor emeritus, said Monday that the Fed should continue its $85 billion monthly bond buying while tracking possible costs and risks from the unprecedented program. Noting that they add stimulus to the economy, she said: “As long as we engage in them, it’s as though we are putting more and more and more accommodation into the system. ... The level of accommodation is increasing as long as those purchases continue.” Full Story
5. Blog: Why There's a Bull Market for Stocks and a Bear Market for Workers
Huffington Post
Public policy professor Robert Reich writes about the Dow Jones Industrial Average having risen above 14,270 today, "completely erasing its 54 percent loss between 2007 and 2009." Asking why the stock market is doing so well while most Americans are doing so poorly, he gives four reasons: productivity gains, high unemployment itself, globalization, and the Fed's easy-money policies. "Rarely before in American history have public policies so radically helped the most fortunate among us, so cruelly harmed the least fortunate, and exposed so many average working Americans to such widespread insecurity," he concludes. Full Story
6. Opinion Blog: Spending cut. Now, GOP, where are the jobs?
CNN Online
A commentary on sequestration and continuing unemployment cites Berkeley economics professor Emmanuel Saez, who found that fully 93% of the increase in total U.S. family income in 2010, the first full year of recovery, went to the top 1%. Full Story
7. Big Bank Breakups and Tech Disruptions: Predicting the Future of Reform
American Banker
Business professor James Wilcox comments on the inevitability of some kind of financial services reform act in the not-too-distant future. "Over the course of the next decade, at some point there will be an event or an outcome of sufficient importance or poignancy that there will be action," he says. "As time goes on and events happen, people will discover that various parts of the consumer credit rules passed by Dodd-Frank are having all kinds of consequences — some intended, and some recognized as more painful than first realized. ... And smart people will have figured out how to minimize or even evade the spirit of some other rules. So there is bound to be a lot of reworking." Full Story
8. 1972 death penalty decision has lasting impact
KGO TV
Law professor Elisabeth Semel, director of Berkeley's Death Penalty Clinic, comments on the low recidivism rate for convicted murderers who have been paroled. "I think it's hard for the public to grasp this," she says. "People who've been convicted of murder have a better rate of success, that is a lower recidivism rate, than individuals who commit other types of crimes." Link to video. Full Story
9. UC Students Rally in Sacramento for More State Funding
Berkeley Patch
Some 1,000 students, including about 40 from UC Berkeley, rallied in Sacramento Monday, urging more state funding for higher education. Full Story
10. Computer History Museum to induct Pixar co-founder not named Steve Jobs into Hall of Fellows
Macworld
The Computer History Museum has announced that its Class of 2013 includes PC pioneer Harry Huskey. Huskey earned his place in the Hall of Fellows "for his seminal work on early and important computing systems, and a lifetime of service to computer education." He is most famous for his work on the famed ENIAC computer and as one of the Berkeley faculty who developed the G15, which some call the first true personal computer. Full Story
11. Return of the Borg: How Twitter Rebuilt Google’s Secret Weapon
Wired
A story about the software underpinnings of Google and Twitter discusses the Mesos system that was originally developed at Berkeley and is now in use at Twitter. The system is an open source platform -- freely available -- and it is gradually spreading to other operations as well. Full Story
12. Forum with Michael Krasny: Joyce Carol Oates on 'The Accursed'
KQED Radio
Prolific novelist Joyce Carol Oates, who is teaching at Berkeley this spring, discusses her career and latest novel, "The Accursed." Link to audio. Full Story
13. Cal's Rogers learned from biggest losses
San Francisco Chronicle
Student athlete Tierra Rogers is profiled for the challenges she has overcome, including the tragic loss of her father and the loss of her basketball career after she was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition during her freshman year. She has nevertheless remained a member of the basketball team, mentoring her teammates, and she's on track to graduate this year. "Everything happened for a bigger purpose," she says. "For me to graduate from the No. 1 public university in the country is an opportunity not many people have. I have a team that's very supportive and loving. It's definitely turned out to be a great experience." Full Story
14. Joël Stalter, France's gift to Cal golf
San Francisco Chronicle
Cal golfer Joël Stalter, from northeastern France, is profiled. In the words of Coach Steve Desimone, "quirky circumstances and good fortune" brought him to Berkeley, where he is now a key player on the top-ranked team in the U.S. Full Story
15. Big Screen Berkeley: And God created Trintignant
Berkeleyside
The Pacific Film Archive is currently running a series entitled "And God Created Jean-Louis Trintignant," following the career of one of France’s most popular leading men of the post-war era. According to this reviewer, Trintignant was "more cerebral than Alain Delon, less earthy than Jean-Paul Belmondo" and he "blended Joseph Cotten earnestness with Anthony Perkins neurosis." His romantic melodrama Estate Violenta (Violent Summer, 1959), will be shown at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 9. Full Story