Closing the Data Gap: Protecting Biometric Information Under the Biometric Information Privacy Act and the California Consumer Protection Act

(Excerpt) Between May and June of 2014, Stacy Rosenbach bought her son, Alexander, a Six Flags season pass online. She submitted Alexander’s personal information and read that Alexander would complete the sign-up process at the park. No details described what the sign-up process would entail. After showing his online receipt at Six Flags, Alexander was brought to an office to provide the customary thumb scan. Alexander’s thumb scan, along with the season pass card, was required to permit him to enter the various rides. He was not given any information about how his thumb scan would be stored or used after his season pass expired. Alexander—a fourteen-year-old boy—thought nothing of this process and voluntarily gave Six Flags his thumb scan. Mrs. Rosenbach, on the other hand, was shocked to learn of this scan when Alexander returned home. After Mrs. Rosenbach asked Alexander for the paperwork from the season pass, he told her Six Flags “did ‘it all by fingerprint now.’ ” Although Alexander never returned to Six Flags, Six Flags kept his biometric information. Curiously, Six Flags has not revealed how long it planned to keep Alexander’s thumb scan or how it planned to use it

Determinazione degli angoli di incidenza e derapata dei velivoli sulla base delle misure dei sensori inerziali

Obiettivo della tesi di laurea è lo sviluppo di un algoritmo per la determinazione degli angoli aerodinamici di incidenza α e di derapata β a partire dai dati forniti dal Sistema Inerziale del velivolo quali i fattori di carico, le velocità angolari e gli angoli di Eulero. La funzione di stima è realizzata nel linguaggio Matlab, mentre il modello di simulazione del velivolo è realizzato in Simulink

Importanza del vincolo finanziario all'innovazione all'interno di un cluster. Analisi empirica su imprese del settore Information Technology di Sophia Antipolis

Analisi della situazione finanziaria all'interno del settore information technology del cluster Sophia Antipoli

Dynamic buckling of composite mast panels of sail ships

Composite materials are becoming more and more popular, even for large ship and offshore structures. They offer lightweight and adaptable strength and stiffness properties. In case of slender structures, where buckling is the governing limit state, such features are valuable and allow designing high performance assemblies like racing crafts as well as very large sail ships. The case of composite masts of sail ships is rather interesting as, on the one hand, relatively large, stiff but light structures are needed and, on the other hand, their reliability is crucial for ship safety. Hence, complete understanding of structural behaviour is essential to avoid too large safety factors. Indeed, such case is also the paradigm of the dynamic buckling behaviour of slender columns structures, pointing out differences between the widely used quasi-static design approach and the more realistic time domain simulations. An earlier work studied the dynamic buckling behaviour of a metallic mast. Now, the study has been extended to the much more complex case of composite masts, showing some variations due to anisotropic material properties and specific weight values different by an order of magnitude. Comprehensive description of the dynamic buckling of a typical composite mast panel is outlined in this paper and compared to results from a previous investigation on aluminium alloy mast

FlhF Is Required for Swarming Motility and Full Pathogenicity of Bacillus cereus

Besides sporulation, Bacillus cereus can undergo a differentiation process in which short swimmer cells become elongated and hyperflagellated swarmer cells that favor migration of the bacterial community on a surface. The functionally enigmatic flagellar protein FlhF, which is the third paralog of the signal recognition particle (SRP) GTPases Ffh and FtsY, is required for swarming in many bacteria. Previous data showed that FlhF is involved in the control of the number and positioning of flagella in B. cereus. In this study, in silico analysis of B. cereus FlhF revealed that this protein presents conserved domains that are typical of SRPs in many organisms and a peculiar N-terminal basic domain. By proteomic analysis, a significant effect of FlhF depletion on the amount of secreted proteins was found with some proteins increased (e.g., B component of the non-hemolytic enterotoxin, cereolysin O, enolase) and others reduced (e.g., flagellin, L2 component of hemolysin BL, bacillolysin, sphingomyelinase, PC-PLC, PI-PLC, cytotoxin K) in the extracellular proteome of a ΔflhF mutant. Deprivation of FlhF also resulted in significant attenuation in the pathogenicity of this strain in an experimental model of infection in Galleria mellonella larvae. Our work highlights the multifunctional role of FlhF in B. cereus, being this protein involved in bacterial flagellation, swarming, protein secretion, and pathogenicity

Le società partecipate dallo Stato

L'economia italiana si caratterizza per la presenza diffusa di società partecipate da soggetti pubblici, tale fenomeno ebbe inizio durante l'epoca fascista con l'introduzione delle prime società partecipate, quali Iri, Eni ecc. Tra il 1920 e il 1950 l'intervento dello Stato nell'economia crebbe in modo vertiginoso. Lo Stato divenne uno dei principali investitori e azionisti, avendo un ruolo di committente di primo piano sull'economia. L'intervento pubblico nell'economia cominciò ad attenuarsi nei primi anni '60, in concomitanza di gravi perdite economiche, nell'ambito delle stesse partecipazioni statali, per numerosi sprechi e cattive gestioni. In seguito, a partire dagli anni '90 fu avviato un processo di privatizzazione,il cui scopo era quello di ridurre il debito pubblico e di salvaguardare l'occupazione. L'Italia, in quel periodo si trovava in un periodo di forte crisi economica, istituzionale e politica. In tale processo si distinguevano due fasi: una, volta a trasformare le aziende autonome e degli enti pubblici in società per azioni e l'altra,volta a procedere alla vendita delle azioni pubbliche. A proposito delle società pubbliche, oggi sorgono numerosi dibattiti tra dottrina e giurisprudenza sulla natura e sul regime giuridico delle società

Estimation of Long Term Bridge Pier Scour in Cohesive Soils at Maryland Bridges using EFA/SRICOS

Estimation of scour in cohesive soils is based on equations developed for non-cohesive soils that produce conservative scour estimates when applied to cohesive soils. This thesis evaluates the development of bridge pier scour via SRICOS, Scour in Cohesive Soils, a method to determine bridge pier scour depth in cohesive soils using results of the Erosion Function Apparatus (EFA) erosion tests and a hydrograph. Soil samples were collected from five Maryland sites; the EFA was used to measure their erosion rates and the SRICOS software predicted scour depths over a user-determined timespan. Predicted scour depths were compared to HEC-18 predicted pier scour depths. In all instances, the EFA/SRICOS method predicted less scour than the HEC-18 method, the current design standard. EFA/SRICOS represents an emerging re-thinking of erosion characterization to predict scour depths of cohesive soils at piers

An integrated approach to the study of Ri de pomme, a painting by Julian Schnabel

The painting Ri de Pomme (1988) by American artist Julian Schnabel was recently subjected to an extensive and disputed restoration with polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) paints. To characterize and locate on the painting the materials used in the original and in the repainted areas, we employed several spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques. Fibre Optics Reflectance Spectroscopy (FORS), Micro-Raman, Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (Py- GC/MS) and Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) were used. The original and restoration paint layers were differentiated by a preliminary FORS survey. The pigments were studied with Micro-Raman and the oil binder was characterized by GC/MS. Moreover, the support of the painting, a weathered tarpaulin, was characterized by Py-GC/MS

Spotlight on the Compositional Quality of Probiotic Formulations Marketed Worldwide

On the worldwide market, a great number of probiotic formulations are available to consumers as drugs, dietary supplements, and functional foods. For exerting their beneficial effects on host health, these preparations should contain a sufficient amount of the indicated living microbes and be pathogen-free to be safe. Therefore, the contained microbial species and their amount until product expiry are required to be accurately reported on the labels. While commercial formulations licensed as drugs are subjected to rigorous quality controls, less stringent regulations are generally applied to preparations categorized as dietary supplements and functional foods. Many reports indicated that the content of several probiotic formulations does not always correspond to the label claims in terms of microbial identification, number of living organisms, and purity, highlighting the requirement for more stringent quality controls by manufacturers. The main focus of this review is to provide an in-depth overview of the microbiological quality of probiotic formulations commercialized worldwide. Many incongruences in the compositional quality of some probiotic formulations available on the worldwide market were highlighted. Even if manufacturers carry at least some of the responsibility for these inconsistencies, studies that analyze probiotic products should be conducted following recommended and up-to-date methodologies