Internet Predictions

More than a dozen leading experts give their opinions on where the Internet is headed and where it will be in the next decade in terms of technology, policy, and applications. They cover topics ranging from the Internet of Things to climate change to the digital storage of the future. A summary of the articles is available in the Web extras section

Monitoring the Dark Web and Securing Onion Services

This paper focuses on how researchers monitor the Dark Web. After defining what onion services and Tor are, we discuss tools for monitoring and securing onion services. As Tor Project itself is research-driven, we find that the development and use of these tools help us to project where use of the Dark Web is headed

E-Commerce as a Competitive Advantage for Small Businesses: Overcoming Privacy and Security Issues

The Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) trend have captivated people in every corner of the world. The presence of both individuals and businesses on the Internet grows every day. For example, in 1998 businesses\u27 presence on the Internet grew so much that many described 1998 as the .com year. But why is it that the Internet is so attractive to all of us? The reason lies in the ease of use of the Internet, the speed of obtaining results, the amount of information available, and the global reach that the Internet has. For all these reasons, the Internet has become one of the most important marketing strategies available. By publishing information on the WWW, small businesses now have the opportunity to reach millions of people around the world, and more importantly, they can do so for a fraction of the cost of other advertising methods. So where is e-commerce headed? One of the arguments is that small businesses will move to one-to-one marketing, where small businesses solicit demographic data to offer customized customer service and sales. This will not only increase sales by targeting the right sectors, but also by offering individualized service to current customers. Others argue that e-commerce\u27s global nature will force small businesses to better identify their core competencies to be able to compete in the global market place. One way or another, small businesses are using e-commerce to please the web customer who wants reliable and accurate information about products and services any time, any where and at no cost

Computational Approaches to Measuring the Similarity of Short Contexts : A Review of Applications and Methods

Measuring the similarity of short written contexts is a fundamental problem in Natural Language Processing. This article provides a unifying framework by which short context problems can be categorized both by their intended application and proposed solution. The goal is to show that various problems and methodologies that appear quite different on the surface are in fact very closely related. The axes by which these categorizations are made include the format of the contexts (headed versus headless), the way in which the contexts are to be measured (first-order versus second-order similarity), and the information used to represent the features in the contexts (micro versus macro views). The unifying thread that binds together many short context applications and methods is the fact that similarity decisions must be made between contexts that share few (if any) words in common.Comment: 23 page

The Calm in the Storm: Women Leaders in Gulf Coast Recovery

Report outlining the importance of women in Gulf Coast Recovery actions.One year after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, women stand at the forefront of constituencies who have taken up leadership for a fair and just recovery, drawing on a history of community-based organizing and the unflinching support of women's funds across the United States

Insects on Elms

PDF pages: 3

Redefining the Competitive Dance Indsutry: A Plan for the Dance Competitions of Tomorrow

There is an absence of direct focus in the development of a dancer’s education within today’s competitive dance world, as current dance competitions have many holes in providing the proper training and education a young dancer needs. It is clear that dance competitions are for-profit businesses with a focus on making money, but it is time to turn these businesses into opportunities for growth, success, and a place where pure talent can be discovered and then launched into the next generation of professional dancers. I am a strong believer in education. Therefore, I believe competitive dance should be another form of education. Unfortunately, in today’s society, the focus has shifted from education to gratification, which is why I believe the time is now to address this issue. I conducted a series of surveys to send out to competition directors, studio owners, convention teachers, professional dancers, parents of competitive dancers, and current dance majors in college pursuing a professional dance career. The survey asked various background questions about their involvement in competitive dance to where they would like to see the dance industry move in the future. The surveys help in the fact that now I do know it is not the industry as a whole that needs a major uplift, but the small details that all affect and go into a dance competition. There are many things that could easily change to help protect and promote the dance industry, and after many hours spent going over responses and rereading what all the dance articles say, I will now present my ideas for a new type of dance competition. As you can see, the undertaking of a new type of competition is large, but the benefits are crucial. Reshaping the competitive dance industry will take time, but it starts with a brave individual to stand up and be the change for what the dancers of tomorrow need. Overall, the main purpose of my findings and ideas is to preserve the integrity and artistry of the competitive dance culture