5,196 research outputs found
Agent fabrication and its implementation for agent-based electronic commerce
In the last decade, agent-based e-commerce has emerged as a potential role for the next generation of e-commerce. How to create agents for e-commerce applications has become a serious consideration in this field. This paper proposes a new scheme named agent fabrication and elaborates its implementation in multi-agent systems based on the SAFER (Secure Agent Fabrication, Evolution & Roaming) architecture. First, a conceptual structure is proposed for software agents carrying out e-commerce activities. Furthermore, agent module suitcase is defined to facilitate agent fabrication. With these definitions and facilities in the SAFER architecture, the formalities of agent fabrication are elaborated. In order to enhance the security of agent-based e-commerce, an infrastructure of agent authorization and authentication is integrated in agent fabrication. Our implementation and prototype applications show that the proposed agent fabrication scheme brings forth a potential solution for creating agents in agent-based e-commerce applications
Execution Models for Choreographies and Cryptoprotocols
A choreography describes a transaction in which several principals interact.
Since choreographies frequently describe business processes affecting
substantial assets, we need a security infrastructure in order to implement
them safely. As part of a line of work devoted to generating cryptoprotocols
from choreographies, we focus here on the execution models suited to the two
levels.
We give a strand-style semantics for choreographies, and propose a special
execution model in which choreography-level messages are faithfully delivered
exactly once. We adapt this model to handle multiparty protocols in which some
participants may be compromised.
At level of cryptoprotocols, we use the standard Dolev-Yao execution model,
with one alteration. Since many implementations use a "nonce cache" to discard
multiply delivered messages, we provide a semantics for at-most-once delivery
How many independent bets are there?
The benefits of portfolio diversification is a central tenet implicit to
modern financial theory and practice. Linked to diversification is the notion
of breadth. Breadth is correctly thought of as the number of in- dependent bets
available to an investor. Conventionally applications us- ing breadth
frequently assume only the number of separate bets. There may be a large
discrepancy between these two interpretations. We uti- lize a simple
singular-value decomposition (SVD) and the Keiser-Gutman stopping criterion to
select the integer-valued effective dimensionality of the correlation matrix of
returns. In an emerging market such as South African we document an estimated
breadth that is considerably lower than anticipated. This lack of
diversification may be because of market concentration, exposure to the global
commodity cycle and local currency volatility. We discuss some practical
extensions to a more statistically correct interpretation of market breadth,
and its theoretical implications for both global and domestic investors.Comment: Less technical rewrite. 12 Pages, 6 Figures (.eps
Ten years of computer forensic tool testing
Barbara Guttman, James R. Lyle and Richard Ayers give an overview of the Computer Forensic Tool Testing project at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, setting out the test procedures, criteria and test data sets for computer forensic software tools, together with a brief illustration of some of the failures that they encounter that can affect digital evidence
Bang-bang dielectrophoretic orientation
Off-on dielectrophoretic propellant orientation in low gravity environmen
Thermal Impact on Spiking Properties in Hodgkin-Huxley Neuron with Synaptic Stimulus
The effect of environmental temperature on neuronal spiking behaviors is
investigated by numerically simulating the temperature dependence of spiking
threshold of the Hodgkin-Huxley neuron subject to synaptic stimulus. We find
that the spiking threshold exhibits a global minimum in a "comfortable
temperature" range where spike initiation needs weakest synaptic strength,
indicating the occurrence of optimal use of synaptic transmission in neural
system. We further explore the biophysical origin of this phenomenon in ion
channel gating kinetics and also discuss its possible biological relevance in
information processing in neural systems.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
The polymorphic nature of the human dopamine D4 receptor gene: A comparative analysis of known variants and a novel 27 bp deletion in the promoter region
BACKGROUND: The human dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) is a candidate gene of great interest in molecular studies of human personality and psychiatric disorders. This gene is unique in having an exceptionally high amount of polymorphic sites both in the coding and in the promoter region. RESULTS: We report the identification of a new 27 bp deletion starting 524 bp upstream of the initiation codon (27 bp del) of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene, in the close vicinity of the -521C>T SNP. The presence of the 27 bp deletion leads to the misgenotyping of the -616C>G SNP by the Sau96 I RFLP method, thus the genotype determination of the mutation is of additional importance. The frequency of this novel sequence variation is considerably low (allele frequency is = 0.16%), as no homozygotes, and only 3 heterozygote carriers were found in a healthy, unrelated Caucasian sample (N = 955). CONCLUSION: Remarkably, the deleted region contains consensus sequences of binding sites for several known transcription factors, suggesting that the different alleles may affect the transcriptional regulation of the gene. A comparison of methods and results for the allelic variations of the DRD4 gene in various ethnic groups is also discussed, which has a high impact in psychiatric genetic studies
Quantifying the impact of climate change on drought regimes using the Standardised Precipitation Index
The study presents a methodology to characterise short- or long-term drought events, designed to aid understanding of how climate change may affect future risk. An indicator of drought magnitude, combining parameters of duration, spatial extent and intensity, is presented based on the Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI). The SPI is applied to observed (1955–2003) and projected (2003–2050) precipitation data from the Community Integrated Assessment System (CIAS). Potential consequences of climate change on drought regimes in Australia, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Spain, Portugal and the USA are quantified. Uncertainty is assessed by emulating a range of global circulation models to project climate change. Further uncertainty is addressed through the use of a high-emission scenario and a low stabilisation scenario representing a stringent mitigation policy. Climate change was shown to have a larger effect on the duration and magnitude of long-term droughts, and Australia, Brazil, Spain, Portugal and the USA were highlighted as being particularly vulnerable to multi-year drought events, with the potential for drought magnitude to exceed historical experience. The study highlights the characteristics of drought which may be more sensitive under climate change. For example, on average, short-term droughts in the USA do not become more intense but are projected to increase in duration. Importantly, the stringent mitigation scenario had limited effect on drought regimes in the first half of the twenty-first century, showing that adaptation to drought risk will be vital in these regions
The Detection of Ionizing Radiation by Plasma Panel Sensors: Cosmic Muons, Ion Beams and Cancer Therapy
The plasma panel sensor is an ionizing photon and particle radiation detector
derived from PDP technology with high gain and nanosecond response.
Experimental results in detecting cosmic ray muons and beta particles from
radioactive sources are described along with applications including high energy
and nuclear physics, homeland security and cancer therapeuticsComment: Presented at SID Symposium, June 201
Plasma Panel Sensors for Particle and Beam Detection
The plasma panel sensor (PPS) is an inherently digital, high gain, novel
variant of micropattern gas detectors inspired by many operational and
fabrication principles common to plasma display panels (PDPs). The PPS is
comprised of a dense array of small, plasma discharge, gas cells within a
hermetically-sealed glass panel, and is assembled from non-reactive,
intrinsically radiation-hard materials such as glass substrates, metal
electrodes and mostly inert gas mixtures. We are developing the technology to
fabricate these devices with very low mass and small thickness, using gas gaps
of at least a few hundred micrometers. Our tests with these devices demonstrate
a spatial resolution of about 1 mm. We intend to make PPS devices with much
smaller cells and the potential for much finer position resolutions. Our PPS
tests also show response times of several nanoseconds. We report here our
results in detecting betas, cosmic-ray muons, and our first proton beam tests.Comment: 2012 IEEE NS
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