Binary String Dynamics

In this paper we investigate the dynamical properties of binary cosmic strings. We find extrinsic curvature dependence of the string action and show that kinks on binary strings are eroded while cusps can play a major role in their evolution.Comment: 10 pages, plain TeX, uses harvmac and epsf, 1 postscript figur

Clinical Informatics: A New Paradigm for Advances in BioMedical Informatics

The medical informatics field is going through a rapid change. The current model used is one of patient to physician, with information technology as a value added segment. However, with rapid developments in hardware and software, innovations in the medical informatics field can take a quantum leap forward by changing its basic model of thinking. The evolving field of medical informatics is giving way to new developments in clinical informatics. With clinical informatics comes the natural progression to patient centered care, and patient access, to a plethora of online information. A new model is proposed of patient to information technology with the physician as the value added segment

A Clinician’s Report of the Unintended Consequences of Electronic Health Records

Electronic health records (EHRs) are complex. Clinicians must interact with patient data, order entry, decision support, reporting services, messaging programs, administrative data, and many other services. These services require user input and decision making, known as user interactions, between clinician and the EHR. EHRs have features designed to facilitate users’ interactions, such as alerts, reminders, keyboard shortcuts, and mouse click menus. These features can lead to unintended consequences, which combine with user interactions, thus making the EHR complicated and difficult to use. Awareness of user interactions and the unintended consequences will improve EHR design and lead to greater clinician acceptance of EHRs

Our Students’ Search for Meaning

This article offers a reflection on the role of faith, reason, and meaning as part of students’ educational experience. By intermixing elements of his personal journey with the development of course projects designed to infuse meaning within the classroom, the author examines the challenges that teachers often face when reconciling the idea of faith- and purpose-based learning as compared with a purely skills-based, vocational approach. The three course projects discussed highlight ways in which students apply course content and skills to higher-level outcomes that lead them to better understand their sense of connectedness, sense of community, and service. By overcoming complacency in course design and applying creative and innovative ideas, the author presents several examples that can be applied to teaching practice across disciplines within a meaning- and purpose-based curriculum

Discovering a Joomla Exploit for Possible Malware: Social Engineering and a PHP BASE64 GIF Exploit

his article discusses the importance of Joomla as a Content Management System that is used by 2.7% of the web and how a possible new malware exploit has been discovered. The PHP BASE64 malware exploit is a well-documented exploit of PHP but the implementation of this exploit as it relates to Joomla is a very ingenious method not previously used before, as far as the authors were able to discover. In this particularly case, PHP code is embedded in a GIF file to produce a very sophisticated and unique malware exploit to Joomla