Modularity, Vertical Integration, and Open Access Policies: Towards A Convergence of Antitrust and Regulation In The Internet Age

This article aims to help regulators and commentators incorporate both Chicago School and post-Chicago School arguments in assessing whether regulation should mandate open access to information platforms. The authors outline three alternative models that the FCC could adopt to guide its regulation of information platforms in the future and facilitate a true convergence between antitrust and regulatory policy.

Book review: blood, dreams and gold: the changing face ofBurma by Richard Cockett

In Blood, Dreams and Gold: The Changing Face of Burma , Richard Cockett provides readers with a beautifully written overview of the nation’s history from the colonial era to more recent experiences of civil war and authoritarian government. Sonia J. Weiser highly recommends this detailed and humane book both to those newly encountering the country as well as those looking to further immerse themselves in understanding its complexities

Evidence of polariton induced transparency in a single organic quantum wire

The resonant interaction between quasi-one dimensional excitons and photons is investigated. For a single isolated organic quantum wire, embedded in its single crystal monomer matrix, the strong exciton-photon coupling regime is reached. This is evidenced by the suppression of the resonant excitonic absorption arising when the system eigenstate is a polariton. These observations demonstrate that the resonant excitonic absorption in a semiconductor can be understood in terms of a balance between the exciton coherence time and the Rabi period between exciton-like and photon-like states of the polariton.Comment: 9 pages and 4 figure

Direct combination: a new user interaction principle for mobile and ubiquitous HCI

Direct Combination (DC) is a recently introduced user interaction principle. The principle (previously applied to desktop computing) can greatly reduce the degree of search, time, and attention required to operate user interfaces. We argue that Direct Combination applies particularly aptly to mobile computing devices, given appropriate interaction techniques, examples of which are presented here. The reduction in search afforded to users can be applied to address several issues in mobile and ubiquitous user interaction including: limited feedback bandwidth; minimal attention situations; and the need for ad-hoc spontaneous interoperation and dynamic reconfiguration of multiple devices. When Direct Combination is extended and adapted to fit the demands of mobile and ubiquitous HCI, we refer to it as Ambient Combination (AC) . Direct Combination allows the user to exploit objects in the environment to narrow down the range of interactions that need be considered (by system and user). When the DC technique of pairwise or n-fold combination is applicable, it can greatly lessen the demands on users for memorisation and interface navigation. Direct Combination also appears to offers a new way of applying context-aware information. In this paper, we present Direct Combination as applied ambiently through a series of interaction scenarios, using an implemented prototype system

Investigating heuristic evaluation as a methodology for evaluating pedagogical software: An analysis employing three case studies

This paper looks specifically at how to develop light weight methods of evaluating pedagogically motivated software. Whilst we value traditional usability testing methods this paper will look at how Heuristic Evaluation can be used as both a driving force of Software Engineering Iterative Refinement and end of project Evaluation. We present three case studies in the area of Pedagogical Software and show how we have used this technique in a variety of ways. The paper presents results and reflections on what we have learned. We conclude with a discussion on how this technique might inform on the latest developments on delivery of distance learning. © 2014 Springer International Publishing

First Principles for an Effective Rewrite of the Telecommunications Act of 1996

The increasing centrality of the Internet in modern communications, together with massive changes in the landscape of the telecommunications market, have intensified the calls for Congress to overhaul the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In this paper, we analyze this looming legislative challenge by dividing it into two sets of issues: first, issues concerning the proper substance of telecommunications policy reform; and, second, issues concerning the appropriate institutions for carrying out that reform. In Part I, we argue that Congress should require regulators to adhere more closely to (and justify departures from) basic antitrust principles in developing the substance of competition policy. In particular, we explore how those principles would have brought greater predictability and analytical rigor to the FCC's implementation of statutory provisions requiring incumbent telephone providers to lease parts of their networks to competitors. Moreover, we explain how antitrust principles can now inform the current debate over whether to regulate broadband platforms to prevent discrimination against independent providers of applications like voice over Internet protocol. In Part II, we turn to Congress's institutional choices in reforming telecommunications regulation.Despite our advocacy for antitrust-oriented rules of decision, we argue for a continued reliance on the FCC, rather than antitrust courts, as the appropriate institution for superintending the efficient development of competition throughout the industry.Not only does the FCC enjoy specialized expertise in the economics and technology of the telecommunications industry, it also enjoys a distinct advantage over courts in developing and enforcing complicated ,and necessary,prescriptive rules, such as those governing interconnection and its associated intercarrier fees. At the same time, the FCC will increasingly need to refocus its energies from prescriptive regulation to a new emphasis on after-the-fact enforcement and market-monitoring, much like the role played today by the Federal Trade Commission.

Proximal business intelligence on the semantic web

This is the post-print version of this article. The official version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 Springer.Ubiquitous information systems (UBIS) extend current Information System thinking to explicitly differentiate technology between devices and software components with relation to people and process. Adapting business data and management information to support specific user actions in context is an ongoing topic of research. Approaches typically focus on providing mechanisms to improve specific information access and transcoding but not on how the information can be accessed in a mobile, dynamic and ad-hoc manner. Although web ontology has been used to facilitate the loading of data warehouses, less research has been carried out on ontology based mobile reporting. This paper explores how business data can be modeled and accessed using the web ontology language and then re-used to provide the invisibility of pervasive access; uncovering more effective architectural models for adaptive information system strategies of this type. This exploratory work is guided in part by a vision of business intelligence that is highly distributed, mobile and fluid, adapting to sensory understanding of the underlying environment in which it operates. A proof-of concept mobile and ambient data access architecture is developed in order to further test the viability of such an approach. The paper concludes with an ontology engineering framework for systems of this type – named UBIS-ONTO

Nod1 signaling overcomes resistance of S. pneumoniae to opsonophagocytic killing

Airway infection by the Gram-positive pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp) leads to recruitment of neutrophils but limited bacterial killing by these cells. Co-colonization by Sp and a Gram-negative species, Haemophilus influenzae (Hi), provides sufficient stimulus to induce neutrophil and complement-mediated clearance of Sp from the mucosal surface in a murine model. Products from Hi, but not Sp, also promote killing of Sp by ex vivo neutrophil-enriched peritoneal exudate cells. Here we identify the stimulus from Hi as its peptidoglycan. Enhancement of opsonophagocytic killing was facilitated by signaling through nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-1 (Nod1), which is involved in recognition of γ-D-glutamyl-meso-diaminopimelic acid (meso-DAP) contained in cell walls of Hi but not Sp. Neutrophils from mice treated with Hi or compounds containing meso-DAP, including synthetic peptidoglycan fragments, showed increased Sp killing in a Nod1-dependent manner. Moreover, Nod1-/- mice showed reduced Hi-induced clearance of Sp during co-colonization. These observations offer insight into mechanisms of microbial competition and demonstrate the importance of Nod1 in neutrophil-mediated clearance of bacteria in vivo

B spectroscopy using all-to-all propagators

We measure the ground and excited states for B mesons in the static limit using maximally variance reduced estimators for light quark propagators. Because of the large number of propagators we are able to measure accurately also orbitally excited P, D and F states. We also present some results for Lambda_b.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures. Talk presented at Lattice '97 by J. Peis