Randomly distributed convective storms can self-aggregate in the absence of large-scale forcings. Here we present a 1D shallow-water model to study the convective self-aggregation. This model simulates the dynamics of the planetary boundary layer and represents convection as a triggered process. Once triggered, convection lasts for finite time and occupies finite length. We show that the model can successfully simulate self-aggregation, and that the results are robust to a wide range of parameter values. In the simulations, convection excites gravity waves. The gravity waves then form a standing wave pattern, separating the domain into convectively active and inactive regions. We analyze the available potential energy (APE) budget and show that convection generates APE, providing energy for self-aggregation. By performing dimensional analysis, we develop a scaling theory for the size of convective aggregation, which is set by the gravity wave speed, damping time scale, and number density of convective storms. This paper provides a simple modeling framework to further study convective self-aggregation.

In the latter part of the 20th century, statistics became a commodity independent of government and a statistical services industry developed. This development is pertinent because these services are primarily a business information industry (Starr and Corson, 1987: 416). There are multiple aspects to the statistical services industry and while there are often less-than-clear-cut distinctions among them, several can be identified, including econometrics, data base development and maintenance, survey research, and market demographics. Of interest to us here is the role of this industry as an entity outside of the government. I focus on the US because of its early leadership in this field. I note, however, that today, many of the major players are international and that our comments on current practices apply beyond the United States. Two factors significant to the development of market demographics are identified by Starr and Corson (1987: 426): (1) the growing interest on the part of major corporations in market segmentation and targeted marketing, which emerged as mass marketing methods began to falter; and (2) technology developed within the public sector that enabled the association of demographic characteristics with addresses.

The U.S. Senate rejects multilateral treaties as if it were sport. Some it rejects outright, as when it voted against the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities in 2012 and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (cTBT) in 1999. Others it rejects through inaction: dozens of treaties are pending before the Senate, pertaining to such subjects as labor, economic and cultural rights, endangered species, pollution, armed conflict, peacekeeping, nuclear weapons, the law of the sea, and discrimination against women. Often, presidents don't even bother pushing for ratification, since they know the odds are long: under the U.S. Constitution, it takes only one-third of the Senate to reject a treaty.

© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York. The recent shift toward electronic publishing fundamentally changed the production and economics of scholarly journal production—and rapidly changing technology makes this an open-ended dynamic. Simultaneously, professional societies, faculties and university administrators, increasingly exposed to the hyper-competitive world of emerging “neo-liberalism,” are increasingly reluctant to adequate support editorial offices and contribute to journal peer review. This is creating a “crisis” for journals, illustrated here in reference to sociology. The essay concludes with some suggestions for how a regional journal like Sociological Perspectives might be able to adapt and stay relevant in the 21st century.

In 1953, Chiang Yee, a Chinese American travel writer and artist, began to write and exchange Chinese-language dayou poems with Yang Lien-sheng, a Harvard professor. These poems, seemingly casual, unrestrained, humorous, and sometimes emotional, reflected the sentiments of diaspora poets, their feelings about displacement, profession, language, and home. This article is a study of the cultural and literary significance of these dayou poems. Written during the Cold War era by Chinese scholars, they stand in sharp contrast with mainstream publications in both China and America. They are not merely an instance of Chinese poetic form being practiced overseas; when examined against their sociocultural context, these verses raise significant issues concerning displacement and homeland, career and cultural identity, and “mother tongue” and public expression. They reveal an ethos that diaspora poets have never publicly manifested in their English-language writings. Thus, a study of these dayou poems may deepen our understanding about Asian American literature, lead to a better appreciation of writing in languages other than English, and open up a new, exciting topic within Asian American Studies.

Organized rainstorms and their associated overturning circulations can self-emerge over an ocean surface with uniform temperature in cloud-resolving simulations. This phenomenon is referred to as convective self-aggregation. Convective self-aggregation is argued to be an important building block for tropical weather systems and may help regulate tropical atmospheric humidity and thereby tropical climate stability. Here the author presents a boundary layer theory for the horizontal scale λ of 2D (x, z) convective self-aggregation by considering both the momentum and energy constraints for steady circulations. This theory suggests that λ scales with the product of the boundary layer height h and the square root of the amplitude of density variation between aggregated moist and dry regions in the boundary layer, and that this density variation mainly arises from the moisture variation due to the virtual effect of water vapor. This theory predicts the following: 1) the order of magnitude of λ is ~2000 km, 2) the aspect ratio of the boundary layer λ/h increases with surface warming, and 3) λ decreases when the virtual effect of water vapor is disabled. These predictions are confirmed using a suite of cloud-resolving simulations spanning a wide range of climates.

The atmosphere can self-organize into long-lasting large-scale overturning circulations over an ocean surface with uniform temperature. This phenomenon is referred to as convective self-aggregation and has been argued to be important for tropical weather and climate systems. Here we present a boundary layer centric framework based on the available potential energy budget of convective self-aggregation. We show that boundary layer diabatic processes dominate the available potential energy production and are, therefore, essential to convective self-aggregation. We further show that the enhanced virtual effect of water vapor can lead to convective self-aggregation.