Protecting The Medium-Sized Buisness Computer

Computers were first introduced into our lives in 1944, when the first one was designed and built for the Army. They were able to process simple information faster than man, allowing him to concentrate on more difficult problems. Progress came quickly and the first commercial use of the computer was in 1954. Today, computers are recognized as having a tremendous influence on our daily lives. They have been successfully incorporated into almost every aspect of human endeavor. Computer crime is an unfortunate reality in today\u27s world. If the crime is detected at all, the loss may very well run into the millions of dollars. There are countless threats of penetration to a computer system. The dataprocessing manager must do his best, within company constraints, to combat these different threats. These threats come from a variety of sources. The internal threats can range from embezzlement, fraud, blackmail or program substitution/contamination. External threats can take the form of direct sabotage, wiretapping, program modification or natural disaster. A variety of different protective techniques and devices can be implemented to guard against system penetration. It is up to the manager to decide what is the best alternative to suit his needs. Guarded entrances, sign-in/sign-out logs and separation of duties could be an effective protection against internal tampering. If these fail, the manager would have to employ more stringent controls over computer access. Strict password control could help discourage outsider penetration. Encryption/decryption devices will however, become a strong deterrence to outsider penetration in the near future. Should a crime be committed against the computer system, there is little legal resource available. Current laws are inadequate as written and need to be updated and strengthened if the penalty is ever going to match the crime. The information contained in this study consists of a variety of secondary sources. These include current periodicals, library textbooks, newspapers and journals. No computer system can be totally secure from penetration but with tight controls, the chance of hostile penetration is greatly reduced to an acceptable level. Security is everyone\u27s business when working with the system. Management and employees must become involved if the security procedures are going to be effective

A Demographic Study of an Isolated Population of the Gopher Tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus; and an Assessment of a Relocation Procedure for Tortoises

It is acknowledged that the gopher tortoise is declining in numbers throughout its geographic range primarily from degradation and loss of suitable habitat. This research project is part of a pilot program to study the effectiveness of relocation as a mitigation method for the conservation of gopher tortoises. There was an opportunity to gather information about the tortoise population prior to its relocation, and for that reason this thesis is presented in two sections. The first section of this work involved the analysis of the tortoise population prior to its removal from the development site. Results of two methods for the estimation of population density from burrow counts seem to indicate that in some cases, those procedures may over estimate tortoise density. Excavated burrows of hatchling and juvenile tortoises showed a significant correlation between carapace length and burrow length. A von Bertalanffy interval growth equation fit to carapace length and age data produced predicted ages from specific sized tortoises that were similar to previously published data. The second section of this thesis describes the methods used to relocate a tortoise population and evaluates the success of that procedure. Use of enclosures around burrows when releasing the tortoises did not lead to their becoming permanently established in those areas. The enclosures probably served to increase the survival rate of the tortoises by establishing a source of shelter. Twenty-five tortoises (12 relocated and 13 resident) were fitted with radio transmitters to document movements. The relocated tortoises generally moved greater overall distances than the residents. However, the differences were significant only in number of moves per tortoise and not in distances per movement. The relocated tortoises did not always use burrows during their movements and often sought shelter in shallow pallets and forms

Carotid Endarterectomy Improves Peripheral but not Central Arterial Stiffness

ObjectiveCarotid endarterectomy (CEA) reduces the risk of cerebrovascular events due to the presence of atherosclerotic plaque in the internal carotid artery. Arterial stiffness is an indicator of cardiovascular risk and strongly associates with the development of atherosclerosis. This study aims to assess the short-term effect of CEA on arterial stiffness and haemodynamics.DesignProspective observational study.MethodsMeasurements of arterial stiffness and haemodynamics, including carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV), carotid-radial PWV (crPWV), augmentation pressure, augmentation index, subendocardial viability ratio, central pressures and pulse pressure amplification, were performed pre- and 6 weeks post-CEA on both surgical and non-surgical sides.ResultsFifty-nine patients completed the study (n = 46 men, age 68.9 ± 10.1 years). crPWV was decreased after CEA on the surgical (P = 0.01) and non-surgical side (P = 0.0008), AIx75 tended to decrease only on the surgical side (P = 0.06). cfPWV did not change significantly on either side.ConclusionWe assessed, for the first time, the short-term effect of CEA on arterial stiffness and haemodynamics. CEA improved peripheral but not central arterial stiffness. This study provides evidence for significant changes in certain arterial stiffness and haemodynamic parameters. Longer-term follow-up will assess whether these changes are sustained and whether CEA is associated with further haemodynamic benefits

Comparison of traps and baits for censusing small mammals in Neotropical lowlands.

Snap-traps, live-traps, and baits affect the ability to capture small mammals, but few previous studies have involved sampling communities of small mammals in tropical environments. We tested differences in captures of small marsupials and rodents by Victor snap-traps versus Sherman live-traps and by two types of bait in lowland rainforest at Reserva Cuzco Amazónico, southeastern Peru. Snap-traps took ca. 3.5 times as many individuals as live-traps. Snap-traps also captured more species (and more rare species), but we attribute this to more numerous captures overall because the relative proportions of species captured by the two traps generally were the same. Type of bait had little impact on our trapping results

Untargeted Metabolomic Profiling Reveals Variation in Metabolites Associated with Nutritional Values in Tef Accessions

Tef (Eragrostis tef), is a gluten-free orphan cereal, crop of nutritional and economical significance. Here we used untargeted metabolomics to survey metabolite variation in 14 diverse tef accessions at 15-days post germination. Tef genotypes were classified into four metabolomic groups where variation was linked to flavones and flavonols. Further analysis on white seeded accessions shows variation related to sucrose and important vitamins, nicotinamides (vitamin B3) riboflavin (vitamin B2) and folate (vitamin B9). Coloured seeded accessions showed variation in metabolism related to amino acid and sugars. This study highlights the potential of metabolomics in exploring the nutritional traits in tef. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11130-021-00931-6

Development of planar pixel modules for the ATLAS high luminosity LHC tracker upgrade

The high-luminosity LHC will present significant challenges for tracking systems. ATLAS is preparing to upgrade the entire tracking system, which will include a significantly larger pixel detector. This paper reports on the development of large area planar detectors for the outer pixel layers and the pixel endcaps. Large area sensors have been fabricated and mounted onto 4 FE-I4 readout ASICs, the so-called quad-modules, and their performance evaluated in the laboratory and testbeam. Results from characterisation of sensors prior to assembly, experience with module assembly, including bump-bonding and results from laboratory and testbeam studies are presented

Expression of the Aspergillus bimG gene in Neurospora crassa

In A. nidulans the bimG gene codes for the catalytic subunit of protein phosphatase 1. The wild type bimG gene was transformed into N. crassa and expressed under the direction of the alcA promoter. The heterologous bimG mRNA and protein were detected in the transformants by RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. However, the transformation did not result in detectable changes in phenotype. This work demonstrates that the alcA promoter, a conditional gene expression system widely used in both Aspergillus and higher plants, also functions in N. crassa

Testing small molecule analogues of acanthocheilonema viteae immunomodulator ES-62 against clinically relevant allergens

ES-62 is a glycoprotein secreted by the filarial nematode Acanthocheilonema viteae that protects against ovalbumin (OVA)-induced airway hyper-responsiveness in mice by virtue of covalently attached anti-inflammatory phosphorylcholine (PC) residues. We have recently generated a library of Small Molecule Analogues (SMAs) of ES-62 based around its active PC moiety as a starting point in novel drug development for asthma, and isolated two compounds - termed 11a and 12b – that mirror ES-62’s protective effects. In the present study we have moved away from OVA, a model allergen, to test the two SMAs against two clinically relevant allergens – house dust mite (HDM) and cockroach allergen (CR) extract. We show that whereas both SMAs offer some protection against development of lung allergic responses to CR, in particular reducing eosinophil infiltration, only SMA 12b is effective in protecting against eosinophil-dependent HDM-induced allergy. These data therefore suggest that helminth molecule-induced protection against model antigens may not necessarily translate to clinically relevant antigens. Nevertheless, in the present study we have managed to demonstrate that it is possible to produce synthetic drug-like molecules based on a parasitic worm product that show therapeutic potential with respect to asthma resulting from known triggers in humans