The new space and Earth science information systems at NASA's archive

The on-line interactive systems of the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) are examined. The worldwide computer network connections that allow access to NSSDC users are outlined. The services offered by the NSSDC new technology on-line systems are presented, including the IUE request system, Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) data, and data sets on astrophysics, atmospheric science, land sciences, and space plasma physics. Plans for future increases in the NSSDC data holdings are considered

Recent experiments on a small-angle/wide-angle X-ray scattering beam line at the ESRF

Recent results using a new combined small-angle/wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) beam line at the European Synchrotron Radiation Source (ESRF) will be presented. This beam line is specifically designed to be able to handle complicated sample environments required to perform time-resolved experiments mimicking processing conditions used in material science. Besides the attention that has been given to the interfacing of these sample environments to the beam line data acquisition system also the developments in detector technology will be discussed. The influence that a high count rate and low noise WAXS detector can have on the accuracy of experimental results in polymer crystallisation will be shown. It is shown that it is feasible to detect crystalline volume fractions as low as 10(-3)-10(-4) in polymeric systems

Capacity development for agricultural biotechnology in developing countries: Concepts, contexts, case studies and operational challenges of a systems perspective.

There are divergent views on what capacity development might mean in relation to agricultural biotechnology. The core of this debate is whether this should involve the development of human capital and research infrastructure, or whether it should encompass a wider range of activities which also include developing the capacity to use knowledge productively. This paper uses the innovation systems concept to shed light on this discussion, arguing that it is innovation capacity rather than science and technology capacity that has to be developed. The context of deploying biotechnology in developing countries is illustrated with an over view of Uganda and Ethiopia. The then presents 6 examples of different capacity development approaches. It concludes by suggesting that policy needs to take a multidimensional approach to capacity development in line with an innovation systems perspective. But it also argues that policy needs to recognise the need to develop the capacity of diversity of innovation systems and that a key part of the capacity development task is to bring about the integration of these different systems at strategic points in time. The paper concludes with a tentative typology of the main types of agricultural innovation systems that are likely to be important in developing countries.agriculture, Ethiopia, Uganda, innovation systems, biotechnology, capacity building, innovation policy.

Application of Floquet theory to dynamical systems with memory

We extend the recently developed generalized Floquet theory [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 170602 (2013)] to systems with innite memory, i.e., a dependence on the whole previous history. In particular, we show that a lower asymptotic bound exists for the Floquet exponents associated to such cases. As examples, we analyze the cases of an ideal 1D system, a Brownian particle, and a circuit resonator with an ideal transmission line. All these examples show the usefulness of this new approach to the study of dynamical systems with memory, which are ubiquitous in science and technology

Moving recommender systems from on-line commerce to retail stores

The increasing diversity of consumers' demand, as documented by the debate on the long tail of the distribution of sales volume across products, represents a challenge for retail stores. Recommender systems offer a tool to cope with this challenge. The recent developments in information technology and ubiquitous computing makes it feasible to move recommender systems from the on-line commerce, where they are widely used, to retail stores. In this paper, we aim to bridge the management literature and the computer science literature by analysing a number of issues that arise when applying recommender systems to retail stores: these range from the format of the stores that would benefit most from recommender systems to the impact of coverage and control of recommender systems on customer loyalty and competition among retail store

Modeling and Educational Simulation as a Basis for Sustainable Development

Sustainable development is the result of research and the application of science and technology in complex, uncertain and changing situations. To accomplish its effectiveness, it is necessary to establish such processes in education with an epistemological orientation on the same line; this is, to be understood as a complex system that allows a prospective and possible vision, in line with reality. Education systems are dynamic systems of increasing complexity that develop within unstable contexts of constant change. These are characterized by nonlinear interactions between multiple actors at different levels and scales of inter-and trans- disciplinary type, that generate the emergence of persistent patterns with changing components (selforganized, adaptive, self-recursive and with catastrophic behavior), resulting in the generation of possible scenarios that affect collective behavior. In other words, the education systems are developed in a continuous dynamic of order/disorder, with a permanent structural change that makes them unpredictable and far from any causal explanation. To manage unstable contexts of probable sustainability, education requires a new rationale, a new method of heuristic and metaheuristic type that does not focus on the reality that is known and that is predetermined by inductive or deductive ways with rigid and statistical processes. Instead, to manage these unstable contexts, education should be built on the interaction of variables and chaotic dynamics, through processes of modeling and simulation, in a work of synthesis (rather than in an analysis with nonlinear results) where it can be appreciated the dynamics of the levels and the generation of increasing complexity.Ibero-American Science and Technology Education Consortiu

Robustness of signature verification systems to imitators with increasing skills

Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. F. Alonso-Fernández, J. Fiérrez, A. Gilpérez, J. Galbally, J. Ortega-García, "Robustness of Signature Verification Systems to Imitators with Increasing Skills" in International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR), Barcelona (Madrid), 2009, 728 - 732In this paper, we study the impact of an incremental level of skill in the forgeries against signature verification systems. Experiments are carried out using both off-line systems, involving the discrimination of signatures written on a piece of paper, and on-line systems, in which dynamic information of the signing process (such as velocity and acceleration) is also available. We use for our experiments the BiosecurID database, which contains both on-line and off-line versions of signatures, acquired in four sessions across a 4 month time span with incremental level of skill in the forgeries for different sessions. We compare several scenarios with different size and variability of the enrolment set, showing that the problem of skilled forgeries can be alleviated as we consider more signatures for enrolment.This work has been supported by the TEC2006-13141- C03-03 project of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology