Computers model world's climate, but how well?
Article Abstract:
Ocean-atmosphere climate computer models are helping researchers understand the changing global climate. About 20 existing computers place climatic data such as temperature, winds, solar radiation, ocean currents into a model before setting it in motion. Scientists then can study the mathematical form to simulate the consequences of global warming. The computers have demonstrated a general global adherence to reality but reveal some significant regional errors. These results uphold the same general conclusion reached by cruder predecessors in the 1970s: doubling the atmosphere's carbon dioxide concentration would push the earth's average surface temperature by three to eight degrees Fahrenheit. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a UN-sponsored group of scientists who advise climate negotiations, says the models show more accuracy and sophistication. Problems include an inability to predict changes throughout the atmosphere and incomplete knowledge of the atmosphere's functioning.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1997
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A high-tech library ignites dispute over computers vs. books
Article Abstract:
San Francisco's new Main Library is the focus of an intense debate over the importance of computers versus books in the budget conscious Information Age. The $140 million new Main Library in San Francisco, the self-anointed digital capital, was a paragon for those, like head librarian Kenneth Dowlin, who see the Internet and new technologies as important tools for public access to knowledge. Others, like author Nicholson Baker and the library workers union, claimed valuable books were being senselessly cast aside. The disputes culminated in the forced resignation of the head librarian, ostensibly because the library system is $2.8 million short and in financial disarray. Mr. Dowlin was criticized for promoting the electronic library, but not retraining his staff to run it, and for becoming detached from day-to-day operations. However, the library is seeing greater numbers and diversity in its patrons, many of whom come for the computers.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1997
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Computers offer hope and danger on test security
Article Abstract:
The eventual shift to computer-based examinations will solve some security troubles, according to the Educational Testing Service (ETS), but the new tests may present other problems. Approximately 400,000 prospective graduate students annually test on paper-and-pencil editions of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), a method which the ETS would like to phase out. Computer-based exams would reduce traditional cheating methods that include copying from neighbors, test impostors and thefts of exam booklets. New issues include the dissemination of information, in which computers worldwide can receive thousands of computerized test questions. Another issue concerns availability, where students could memorize questions from unaltered computerized tests which are offered over periods of time. The GRE will administer interactive GRE tests, which contain one pool of questions, to 35,000 people online in 1997.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1997
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