A Comparison of Attitudes to Ipv6 in Three Countries

Internet Protocol (IP), the underlying protocol upon which the Internet is based, has a number of serious flaws, including limited address space, security and performance limitations. Since the early 1990s a new version of IP (IPv6) has been developed in which these problems are addressed. Yet despite years of “hype”, adoption of IPv6 has been minimal or non-existent. Many efforts have been made to encourage IPv6 adoption around the world but none have been widely successful.The decision to adopt is influenced by the information available to the decision maker. This paper reports the results of studies of attitudes and perceptions to IPv6 in three countries and determines that the prevalent information about the standard in each country is often scarce and inaccurate. This contributes to reluctance to adopt IPv6 and further exacerbates the problem. The paper concludes with recommendations to improve available information so as to increase IPv6 acceptance and adoption

Glass Ceiling Commission - The Impact of the Glass Ceiling and Structural Change on Minorities and Women

Glass Ceiling ReportGlassCeilingBackground12StructuralChange.pdf: 9391 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Space Platforms for NASA -Opportunity or Pitfall?

Described are the NASA efforts to determine if platform to pool payload services are cost effective. The platform concept originated from the short shuttle life on orbit, the shuttle capability to assemble aggregating structures, and the belief that economies might be obtained from shared services and repair. About eighty payloads in NASAs future were identified for consideration. Contractor and in-house studies have produced platform configurations. Comparative cost studies are currently being done. Results have been obtained, but enthusiasm is being reserved (as of March) until sufficient review has been achieved. The platform approach has a large intuitive following; if platforms appear to be cost effective, they are likely to become a very visible part of the NASA space effort

The Impacts Of The War On Terrorism On Maritime Shipping

The terrorist acts that destroyed the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon have, of course, changed much of the world in many ways since September 2001. Among those effects has been a pronounced and noticeable shift in airport and aircraft security.  Much less noticeable to most Americans has been the impact of added security and changed priorities on maritime transportation systems.  But maritime security actually has a far greater impact on commerce than does air security because most cargo moves worldwide via commercial ocean-going vessels.  Security requirements and wartime priorities are compelling the world’s governments to more closely monitor and inspect all vessels and cargo entering their nation’s ports.  The US Coast Guard’s inspections are forcing tremendous delays upon entering vessels.  The consequences of losing millions of dollars daily both for shipping companies and cargo interests create severe economic and logistical problems that impact all transportation modes.  The new US embargo on 24 small countries may force them into bankruptcy unless they comply with US requests to end terrorism.  These countries depend on exports and imports for a large portion of their GDP, which will be dramatically reduced unless they join the war against terrorism. This paper examines five impacts on the US and world shipping industry caused by the war on terrorism--those on:  1) vessel and port security; 2) transportation- and trade-related communications; 3) trade levels; 4) marine insurance; and 5) maritime and related freight rates.  Then the authors draw some conclusions regarding possibilities of reflagging of ships and effects on the status of the US merchant marine industry

The use of sentinel plantings in forest biosecurity; results from mixed eucalypt species trails in South‐East Asia and Australia

Many diseases of Eucalyptus species have emerged as pathogens in exotic plantations. Guava rust (Puccinia psidii), cryphonectria canker (Crysoporthe cubensis) coniotherium canker (Colletogloeopsis zuluensis) and Kirramyces leaf blight (Kirramyces destructans) are all serious pathogens that have not been found in native forests or in plantations in Australia (Burgess & Wingfield 2002; Cortinas et al. 2006; Glen et al. 2007; Wingfield et al. 2001). The susceptibility to these pathogens of Eucalyptus spp. commonly used in exotic plantations is known; however the susceptibility of many Eucalyptus spp. found only in natural ecosystems in Australia is unknown. There are two main uses of sentinel plantations. Firstly, tree species known to be susceptible to different pathogens can be planted within the natural environment to try and trap pathogens from their surroundings. In Australia, taxa trials planted in different environments act as sentinel plantings. By surveying these taxa trials we have collected and described a number of new eucalypt pathogens and reported the presence in Australia of Kirramyces destructans. The second use for sentinel planting is where many tree species are planted in a region known to harbour certain pathogens. In this manner the susceptibility of the different tree species can be determined

Arena Size Modulates Functional Responses via Behavioral Mechanisms

Laboratory-based functional response experiments, in which foraging rates are measured across a range of resource densities, are central for determining trophic interaction strength. Historically these experiments often are performed in arbitrarily sized arenas, with larger sized organisms generally used in larger arenas. However, arena size influences foraging rates and therefore also estimates of the functional response parameters, particularly space clearance rate (attack rate). We hypothesized that nonrandom movement within arenas by predators and prey may explain this effect. To test this hypothesis, we video-recorded Schizocosa ocreata wolf spiders (predators) and flightless Drosophila melanogaster prey in circular arenas of 3 different sizes to reveal thigmotactic behavior. We then estimated foraging rates and space clearance rates from feeding trials performed at a single, low prey density in 3 differently-size arenas in either annular (ring-shaped) or circular arenas. Annular arenas mitigated the effects of predator and prey aggregation and thus controlled the experienced prey density near arena edges. Unlike the circular arenas, annular arenas produced similar foraging rates and space clearance rate estimates across arena sizes, confirming that it is the increased density of prey along edges that generates the previously observed arena size effect. Our results provide a key insight into how animal behavior and experimental design must be considered for the accurate interpretation of foraging rates, both when considering standalone functional responses and when making comparisons across experiments

Arena Size Modulates Functional Responses via Behavioral Mechanisms

Laboratory-based functional response experiments, in which foraging rates are measured across a range of resource densities, are central for determining trophic interaction strength. Historically these experiments often are performed in arbitrarily sized arenas, with larger sized organisms generally used in larger arenas. However, arena size influences foraging rates and therefore also estimates of the functional response parameters, particularly space clearance rate (attack rate). We hypothesized that nonrandom movement within arenas by predators and prey may explain this effect. To test this hypothesis, we video-recorded Schizocosa ocreata wolf spiders (predators) and flightless Drosophila melanogaster prey in circular arenas of 3 different sizes to reveal thigmotactic behavior. We then estimated foraging rates and space clearance rates from feeding trials performed at a single, low prey density in 3 differently-size arenas in either annular (ring-shaped) or circular arenas. Annular arenas mitigated the effects of predator and prey aggregation and thus controlled the experienced prey density near arena edges. Unlike the circular arenas, annular arenas produced similar foraging rates and space clearance rate estimates across arena sizes, confirming that it is the increased density of prey along edges that generates the previously observed arena size effect. Our results provide a key insight into how animal behavior and experimental design must be considered for the accurate interpretation of foraging rates, both when considering standalone functional responses and when making comparisons across experiments

Organic carbon compounds associated with deep soil carbon stores

Aims Organic carbon has been reported in deep regolithic profiles to depths of tens of metres, but the composition of the carbon compounds is unknown. Methods Residual carbon in the form of non-volatile low molecular weight compounds (LMWC) was characterised in three deep soil profiles to a depth of 19 m under farmland in south-western Australia following extraction with ethyl acetate and analysis by GC/MS. Pyrolysis and off-line thermochemolysis were used to characterise macromolecular organic carbon (MOC) to a depth of 29 m at a fourth site. Results Three compound classes occurred across the three different field locations: (1) terpenes, (2) fatty acids, amides and alcohols, and (3) plant steroids; indicating the influence of input of the past and present vegetation. Compounds related to fatty acids were the predominant residual carbon species in deep soils, and may be derived from plants and microorganisms. Biomarkers such as lignin, polysaccharides, proteins and terpenes at 0–0.1 m implied influences of vegetation, fire events and microorganisms. Pyrolysis found that polysaccharides were distributed mainly from 0 to 0.1 m, while aromatic compounds were consistently detected down to 29 m. Conclusions Carbon was stabilised in the form of aromatic compounds in deep soil, whereas other carbon sources such as cellulose, chitin, and N-containing compounds were confined to the surface soil. LMWC (Z)-docos-13-enamide and bis(6-methylheptyl) phthalate, were the main components throughout the soil profiles representing 53–81% of the LMWC, and were a greater proportion of the organic matter at depths of 18–19 m