It Is Just Unfair Using Trade Laws to “Out” Security Software Vulnerabilities

In 2015, hackers gained access to hundreds of millions of consumer data records housed in the databases and systems of American businesses, and the number of records stolen climbed even higher the following year. Though businesses spend billions of dollars each year on security software and systems to protect data from unauthorized disclosure, those systems often fail because of vulnerabilities in the software that hackers exploit. All but the simplest software contains some vulnerabilities, including coding errors. Pursuant to the observations of previous legal scholarship, one of the reasons “bad code” (i.e., code vulnerable to hacking) persists in the consumer market is that software vendors insulate themselves from accountability using contractual disclaimers of warranties and limitations on liability. One might expect, by way of contrast, that in the commercial market for software and, in particular, for security software, companies would demand that the vendor share responsibility in the event of a data breach. But this Article’s empirical analysis of end-user license agreements (i.e., agreements between the software vendor or developer and the software user) for such security products demonstrates a similar liability shield in the contractual terms. Therefore, companies cannot, or perhaps just will not, hold security software vendors accountable. The result is an unacceptable risk to consumers; therefore, this Article proposes that regulators should reduce the risk by using unfair trade laws. Specifically, this Article recommends that if a security software vendor knows of a vulnerability in its code and fails to notify its licensees of that vulnerability, it should be charged with committing an unfair trade practice

Design of Carbon Composite Driveshaft for Ultralight Aircraft Propulsion System

This paper deals with the design of the carbon fibre composite driveshaft. This driveshaft will be used for connection between piston engine and propulsor of the type of axial-flow fan. Three different versions of driveshaft were designed and produced. Version 1 if completely made of Al alloy. Version 2 is of hybrid design where the central part is made of high strength carbon composite and flanges are made of Al alloy. Adhesive bond is used for connection between flanges and the central CFRP tube. Version 3 differs from the version 2 by aplication of ultrahigh-strength carbon fibre on the central part. Dimensions and design conditions are equal for all three versions to obtain simply comparable results. Calculations of driveshafts are described in the paper.

Teaching powerful geographical knowledge : a matter of social justice : initial findings from the GeoCapabilities 3 project

GeoCapabilities offers an approach for unlocking powerful disciplinary knowledge (PDK) for children. In phase three of the project, we are exploring how far GeoCapabilities ‘works’ for teachers serving communities in challenging socio-economic circumstances. We connect GeoCapabilities to social justice in education, theoretically. Then, using the topic of migration, we discuss initial empirical findings of how teachers understand PDK and their challenges for teaching PDK. Collaborative work between teachers and academics suggests that the social justice dimension of GeoCapabilities could be realised, with appropriate support for teachers. We conclude with a set of principles to inform the future work of GeoCapabilities

YORP and Yarkovsky effects in asteroids (1685) Toro, (2100) Ra-Shalom, (3103) Eger, and (161989) Cacus

The rotation states of small asteroids are affected by a net torque arising from an anisotropic sunlight reflection and thermal radiation from the asteroids' surfaces. On long timescales, this so-called YORP effect can change asteroid spin directions and their rotation periods. We analyzed lightcurves of four selected near-Earth asteroids with the aim of detecting secular changes in their rotation rates that are caused by YORP. We use the lightcurve inversion method to model the observed lightcurves and include the change in the rotation rate $\mathrm{d} \omega / \mathrm{d} t$ as a free parameter of optimization. We collected more than 70 new lightcurves. For asteroids Toro and Cacus, we used thermal infrared data from the WISE spacecraft and estimated their size and thermal inertia. We also used the currently available optical and radar astrometry of Toro, Ra-Shalom, and Cacus to infer the Yarkovsky effect. We detected a YORP acceleration of $\mathrm{d}\omega / \mathrm{d} t = (1.9 \pm 0.3) \times 10^{-8}\,\mathrm{rad}\,\mathrm{d}^{-2}$ for asteroid Cacus. For Toro, we have a tentative ($2\sigma$) detection of YORP from a significant improvement of the lightcurve fit for a nonzero value of $\mathrm{d}\omega / \mathrm{d} t = 3.0 \times 10^{-9}\,\mathrm{rad}\,\mathrm{d}^{-2}$. For asteroid Eger, we confirmed the previously published YORP detection with more data and updated the YORP value to $(1.1 \pm 0.5) \times 10^{-8}\,\mathrm{rad}\,\mathrm{d}^{-2}$. We also updated the shape model of asteroid Ra-Shalom and put an upper limit for the change of the rotation rate to $|\mathrm{d}\omega / \mathrm{d} t| \lesssim 1.5 \times 10^{-8}\,\mathrm{rad}\,\mathrm{d}^{-2}$. Ra-Shalom has a greater than $3\sigma$ Yarkovsky detection with a theoretical value consistent with observations assuming its size and/or density is slightly larger than the nominally expected values

Enhanced ionization of acetylene in intense laser pulses is due to energy upshift and field coupling of multiple orbitals

Synopsis We describe a new enhanced ionization mechanism for polyatomic molecules. It works via a significant energy up-shift of valence orbitals for stretched bonds and a strong concomitant increase in the coupling between multiple molecular orbitals

Phase transitions for suspension flows

This paper is devoted to study thermodynamic formalism for suspension flows defined over countable alphabets. We are mostly interested in the regularity properties of the pressure function. We establish conditions for the pressure function to be real analytic or to exhibit a phase transition. We also construct an example of a potential for which the pressure has countably many phase transitions.Comment: Example 5.2 expanded. Typos corrected. Section 6.1 superced the note "Thermodynamic formalism for the positive geodesic flow on the modular surface" arXiv:1009.462

Increased dietary fiber is associated with weight loss among Full Plate Living program participants

IntroductionPrior studies have demonstrated that an intake of foods rich in dietary fiber is associated with a favorable impact on health status and body weight. However, the association between fiber intake and weight loss has not been well-studied in employer settings. This research aimed to assess the relationship between dietary fiber and weight loss among individuals participating in the Full Plate Living (FPL) program.MethodsThe 16-week plant-predominant fiber-rich eating program was delivered to 72 employers, primarily in the Southwest U.S., over 3 years (2017–2019). Participants received weekly video lessons, FPL materials, and additional online resources. A retrospective analysis of repeated measures was conducted using participant data obtained from 4,477 participants, of which 2,792 (62.5%) reduced body weight. Analysis of variance with post hoc analysis was used to assess the statistical significance of the changes between baseline and follow-up measures of dietary fiber intake in each of the food categories, specifically the relationship between changes in individual and combined (composite) daily servings of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and nuts on body weight measures among three groups at follow-up: those who lost, maintained, or gained weight. Multilevel modeling was used to test the hypothesis that increased intake of fiber was associated with greater weight loss.ResultsThe mean weight loss for the weight loss group was 3.28 kg. As compared to the two other groups, the intake of whole fiber-rich foods at follow-up was significantly higher among the weight loss group with fruits (2.45 servings), vegetables (2.99 servings), beans (1.03 servings), and total fiber composites (9.07 servings; P < 0.001). A significant increase in servings of grains was also noted (P < 0.05). Multilevel modeling demonstrated that a higher total fiber composite (Model 1), as well as higher intakes of either vegetables or fruits (Model 2), resulted in greater weight loss.DiscussionOur findings indicate that the FPL program can be a part of a lifestyle medicine approach to healthy eating and weight loss. Delivering the program in clinical, community, and workplace settings can increase its reach as an effective and low-cost offering

(16) Psyche: A mesosiderite-like asteroid?

Asteroid (16) Psyche is the target of the NASA Psyche mission. It is considered one of the few main-belt bodies that could be an exposed proto-planetary metallic core and that would thus be related to iron meteorites. Such an association is however challenged by both its near- and mid-infrared spectral properties and the reported estimates of its density. Here, we aim to refine the density of (16) Psyche to set further constraints on its bulk composition and determine its potential meteoritic analog. We observed (16) Psyche with ESO VLT/SPHERE/ZIMPOL as part of our large program (ID 199.C-0074). We used the high angular resolution of these observations to refine Psyche's three-dimensional (3D) shape model and subsequently its density when combined with the most recent mass estimates. In addition, we searched for potential companions around the asteroid. We derived a bulk density of 3.99\,$\pm$\,0.26\,g$\cdot$cm$^{-3}$ for Psyche. While such density is incompatible at the 3-sigma level with any iron meteorites ($\sim$7.8\,g$\cdot$cm$^{-3}$), it appears fully consistent with that of stony-iron meteorites such as mesosiderites (density $\sim$4.25\,$\cdot$cm$^{-3}$). In addition, we found no satellite in our images and set an upper limit on the diameter of any non-detected satellite of 1460\,$\pm$\,200}\,m at 150\,km from Psyche (0.2\%\,$\times$\,R$_{Hill}$, the Hill radius) and 800\,$\pm$\,200\,m at 2,000\,km (3\%\,$\times$\,$R_{Hill}$). Considering that the visible and near-infrared spectral properties of mesosiderites are similar to those of Psyche, there is merit to a long-published initial hypothesis that Psyche could be a plausible candidate parent body for mesosiderites.Comment: 16 page