Pneumatic separator gives quick release to heavy loads

Pneumatic separator, using applied pressure, quickly releases restraining devices securing heavy loads. With minor modifications this separator can be used as a coupling device

A Network Model of Alcoholism and Alcohol Policy

The evolution of alcohol dependence in populations of people on different social networks is studied. Two models are studied. One is the evolution of the states of individuals on hypothesized social structures from a rewired connected caveman model. This model spans a range of social structures (networks) from very ordered to effectively random with small world structures in between. The second model is a zip-code-level model which uses data from a recent survey in Delaware. The model is a discrete model using 10 zip codes. The results show that the evolution of alcohol dependence, as governed by the simple rules that we use, depends sensitively on the network structure and a hypothetical treatment regime

Effects of alcohol on subjective ratings of prospective and everyday memory deficits

Background: Research has shown that heavy alcohol use has a detrimental effect on retrospective memory. Less is known about the effect of alcohol on everyday memory. Methods: This study examined self-ratings of two aspects of memory performance: prospective memory (for example, forgetting to pass on a message) and everyday memory (measured by cognitive failures, such as telling someone a joke that you have told them before). To ensure anonymity and expand on the numbers of participants used in previous studies, data were collected by using the Internet. Data from 763 participants remained after data screening. Results: After controlling for other drug and strategy use, there was clear evidence that differential use of alcohol was associated with impairments in the long-term aspect of prospective memory and with an increased number of cognitive failures. Conclusions: These results support and extend the findings of previous research: our findings are consistent with the idea that heavy use of alcohol does have a significant and negative effect on everyday cognitive performance. Possible causes of these impairments are discussed

Self-rated everyday prospective memory abilities of cigarette smokers and non-smokers: a web based study

The present study examined self-ratings of two aspects of everyday memory performance: long-term prospective memory—measured by the prospective memory questionnaire (PMQ), and everyday memory—measured by the everyday memory questionnaire (EMQ). Use of other substances was also measured and used as covariates in the study. To ensure confidentiality and to expand the numbers used in previous studies, an Internet study was carried out and data from 763 participants was gathered. After controlling for other drug use and strategy use, the data from the PMQ revealed that smokers reported a greater number of long-term prospective memory errors than non-smokers. There were also differences between light and heavier smokers in long-term prospective memory, suggesting that nicotine may have a dose-dependent impact upon long-term prospective memory performance. There was also a significant ANOVA group effect on the EMQ, although the trend for more memory errors amongst the heavier smokers was statistically only borderline (p = .057). These findings suggest there are selective memory deficits associated with smoking and that long-term prospective memory deficits should be added to the growing list of problems associated with cigarette use

Information seeking in the Humanities: physicality and digitality

This paper presents a brief overview of a research project that is examining the information seeking practices of humanities scholars. The results of this project are being used to develop digital resources to better support these work activities. Initial findings from a recent set of interviews is offered, revealing the importance of physical artefacts in the humanities scholars’ research processes and the limitations of digital resources. Finally, further work that is soon to be undertaken is summarised, and it is hoped that after participation in this workshop these ideas will be refined

A comparison of forensic toolkits and mass market data recovery applications

Digital forensic application suites are large, expensive, complex software products, offering a range of functions to assist in the investigation of digital artifacts. Several authors have raised concerns as to the reliability of evidence derived from these products. This is of particular concern, given that many forensic suites are closed source and therefore can only be subject to black box evaluation. In addition, many of the individual functions integrated into forensic suites are available as commercial stand-alone products, typically at a much lower cost, or even free. This paper reports research which compared (rather than individually evaluated) the data recovery function of two forensic suites and three stand alone `non-forensic' commercial applications. The research demonstrates that, for this function at least, the commercial data recovery tools provide comparable performance to that of the forensic software suites. In addition, the research demonstrates that there is some variation in results presented by all of the data recovery tools

Invisible Pixels Are Dead, Long Live Invisible Pixels!

Privacy has deteriorated in the world wide web ever since the 1990s. The tracking of browsing habits by different third-parties has been at the center of this deterioration. Web cookies and so-called web beacons have been the classical ways to implement third-party tracking. Due to the introduction of more sophisticated technical tracking solutions and other fundamental transformations, the use of classical image-based web beacons might be expected to have lost their appeal. According to a sample of over thirty thousand images collected from popular websites, this paper shows that such an assumption is a fallacy: classical 1 x 1 images are still commonly used for third-party tracking in the contemporary world wide web. While it seems that ad-blockers are unable to fully block these classical image-based tracking beacons, the paper further demonstrates that even limited information can be used to accurately classify the third-party 1 x 1 images from other images. An average classification accuracy of 0.956 is reached in the empirical experiment. With these results the paper contributes to the ongoing attempts to better understand the lack of privacy in the world wide web, and the means by which the situation might be eventually improved.Comment: Forthcoming in the 17th Workshop on Privacy in the Electronic Society (WPES 2018), Toronto, AC

Teacher dis/appointments? transitions into and out of teaching

TEACHER ATTRITION COMES AT A PROFESSIONAL, social and individualcost. The seeds of professional contentment or discontent are potentially sown early in one's career. Of the considerableresearch into teacher attrition, and into the early years of teaching, little appears to have investigated the dual transitions into teaching, and out of teaching into another career, and into the possible links between the two. Reporting on research conducted in Australia, this paper investigates 22 ex-teachers' recollections from their transitions from pre-service to the workplace, and examines why some of these teachers became disillusioned or disimpassioned with the profession. Most, but not all of the respondents had taught in Australia. The paper does not attempt to provide defi nitive solutions to the problems of teacher attrition, but rather, to illustrate with fl esh-and-blood examples, some of the dilemmas faced by early career teachers. From their position as ex-teachers, these interviewees look through the 'prism' of their teaching, to its early days and beyond. The paper looks in particular at: transition from pre-service to in-service contexts; recruitment; and casual/supply teachers

Finding a place for environmental studies: Tertiary institutions as a locus of practice for education for sustainability

Education for sustainability involves not only curriculum, but also demands responses in terms of management of resources and of grounds. It is asserted here that inclusion of education for sustainability in the curriculum, whether in a school or university context, is hollow and insincere in the absence of practical and social action on site and perhaps beyond. The present study focuses on students views of opportunities and barriers with regard to maintenance of grounds and management of resources in a tertiary institution context. A cohort of approximately 140 third year primary teacher education students were surveyed to ascertain their views on the value of, barriers to and opportunities for practical sustainability projects conducted by students in their tertiary context. Such projects are a precursor to similar endeavours that could be undertaken in the students school contexts