773 research outputs found
Retention of data in heat-damaged SIM cards and potential recovery methods
No full textExamination of various SIM cards and smart card devices indicates that data may be retained in SIM card memory structures even after heating to temperatures up to 450oC, which the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has determined to be approximately the maximum average sustained temperature at desk height in a house fire. However, in many cases, and certainly for temperatures greater than 450oC, the SIM card chip has suffered structural or mechanical damage that renders simple probing or rewiring ineffective. Nevertheless, this has not necessarily affected the data, which is stored as charge in floating gates, and alternative methods for directly accessing the stored charge may be applicable
Agent-Based Cloud Computing
Get PDFAgent-based cloud computing is concerned with the design and development of software agents for bolstering cloud service
discovery, service negotiation, and service composition. The significance of this work is introducing an agent-based paradigm for
constructing software tools and testbeds for cloud resource management. The novel contributions of this work include: 1) developing
Cloudle: an agent-based search engine for cloud service discovery, 2) showing that agent-based negotiation mechanisms can be
effectively adopted for bolstering cloud service negotiation and cloud commerce, and 3) showing that agent-based cooperative problemsolving
techniques can be effectively adopted for automating cloud service composition. Cloudle consists of 1) a service discovery agent
that consults a cloud ontology for determining the similarities between providers’ service specifications and consumers’ service
requirements, and 2) multiple cloud crawlers for building its database of services. Cloudle supports three types of reasoning: similarity
reasoning, compatibility reasoning, and numerical reasoning. To support cloud commerce, this work devised a complex cloud
negotiation mechanism that supports parallel negotiation activities in interrelated markets: a cloud service market between consumer
agents and broker agents, and multiple cloud resource markets between broker agents and provider agents. Empirical results show that
using the complex cloud negotiation mechanism, agents achieved high utilities and high success rates in negotiating for cloud resources.
To automate cloud service composition, agents in this work adopt a focused selection contract net protocol (FSCNP) for dynamically
selecting cloud services and use service capability tables (SCTs) to record the list of cloud agents and their services. Empirical results
show that using FSCNP and SCTs, agents can successfully compose cloud services by autonomously selecting services
Grid Resource Negotiation: Survey and New Directions
Get PDFSince Grid computing systems involve large-scale resource sharing, resource management is central to their operations. Whereas there are more Grid resource management systems adopting auction, commodity market, and contract-net (tendering) models, this survey supplements and complements existing surveys by reviewing, comparing, and highlighting existing research initiatives on applying bargaining (negotiation) as a mechanism to Grid resource management. The contributions of this paper are: 1) discussing the motivations for considering bargaining models for Grid resource allocation; 2) discussing essential design considerations such as modeling devaluation of Grid resources, considering market dynamics, relaxing bargaining terms, and co-allocation of resources when building Grid negotiation mechanisms; 3) reviewing the strategies and protocols of state-of-the-art Grid negotiation mechanisms; 4) providing detailed comparisons and analyses on how state-of-the-art Grid negotiation mechanisms address the design considerations mentioned in 3); and 5) suggesting possible new directions
Author, publisher and bookseller : a tripartite synergy in Nigerian book industry
Get PDFThis work is about the roles of Author, Publisher and Bookseller in Book development in
Nigeria. The paper started by delving into the history of Book Publishing in Nigeria after
which it proceeded by defining who an author, a publisher, and a bookseller is and
expatiated on the indispensable roles of these key actors in Nigerian Book Industry and in
the emerging Information Society. Furthermore, the various constraints to book
development were identified while the paper advised on how the Book Industry can be
further promoted in Nigeria. However, the paper concluded and made recommendations
on how the Book sector can help in enhancing scholarship in the country
Mosses new to Hong Kong (1)
No full textTen moss species - Garkea flexuosa (Griffith) Marg. & Nork., Campylopus laxitextus Lac., Fissidens dubius P. Beauv., Fissidens ceylonensis Dozy & Molk, Fissidens maceratus Mitt., Philonotis thwaitesii Mitt., Isopterygium minutirameum (C. Muell.)Jaeg., Homalia trichomanoides (Hedw.) B.S.G., Pogonatum neesii (C. Muell.) Dozyand Polytrichum formosum Hedw. are reported new to Hong Kong. Among them, five are new to Guangdong Province of China
Diamine-cored tetrastilbene compounds as solution-processable hole transport materials for stable organic light emitting diodes
No full textA series of diamine-cored tetrastilbene (DTS) derivatives bearing various aliphatic and aromatic substituents was designed and synthesized for use as solution-processed hole transport layers (HTLs) in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). The chemical structures of the DTS derivatives were strategically designed to increase solubility in organic solvents as well as to avoid self-crystallization, and thus ensure a stable morphology under Joule heating while maintaining efficient hole transport capabilities. The five DTS derivatives, composed of different conjugation structures, yielded reasonably good hole transport behavior with a marginal charge carrier mobility of ∼10−5 cm2V−1s−1, which is similar to that of vacuum-deposited N,N′-bis(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′-diamine (NPB). Due to the high glass transition temperatures of the DTS derivatives, this satisfactory charge transport behavior and smooth surface morphology were conserved up to 180 °C. Green OLEDs were prepared using tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq3):C545T as the emission layer, and the OLED performances of the solution-processed DTS HTLs and the vacuum-deposited NPB HTL were compared. A high luminance efficiency of 11.5 cd A−1 was obtained for one solution-processed DTS HTL, which exceeds that of the NPB HTL (10.01 cd A−1). Furthermore, the DTS HTLs enabled a stable OLED operation, with double the accelerated half-life of the NPB-based device. © 20171
Spatial regulation of ABCG25, an ABA exporter, is an important component of the mechanism controlling cellular aba levels
No full textThe phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) plays crucial roles in various physiological processes, including responses to abiotic stresses, in plants. Recently, multiple ABA transporters were identified. The loss-of-function and gain-of-function mutants of these transporters show altered ABA sensitivity and stomata regulation, highlighting the importance of ABA transporters in ABA-mediated processes. However, how the activity of these transporters is regulated remains elusive. Here, we show that spatial regulation of ATP BINDING CASETTE G25 (ABCG25), an ABA exporter, is an important mechanism controlling its activity. ABCG25, as a soluble green fluorescent protein (sGFP) fusion, was subject to posttranslational regulation via clathrin-dependent and adaptor protein complex-2-dependent endocytosis followed by trafficking to the vacuole. The levels of sGFP:ABCG25 at the plasma membrane (PM) were regulated by abiotic stresses and exogenously applied ABA; PMlocalized sGFP:ABCG25 decreased under abiotic stress conditions via activation of endocytosis in an ABA-independent manner, but increased upon application of exogenous ABA via activation of recycling from early endosomes in an ABAdependent manner. Based on these findings, we propose that the spatial regulation of ABCG25 is an important component of the mechanism by which plants fine-tune cellular ABA levels according to cellular and environmental conditions. © 2016 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserve
Wine Monopoly Assessed by the Contemporaries of S.Y. Vitte
Get PDFIntroduction. The introduction of monopoly is associated with the minister of finance S.Y. Vitte, who initiated an active reforming activity during the economic modernization of the country. The current article analyzes social and economic consequences of introducing the wine monopoly assessed by the contemporaries of S.Y. Vitte. This was one of the most complicated and controversial reforms in term of acceptance by the society, which raised opposite assessments, including ones with regard to Vitte himself. Notwithstanding the above, it became a part of the “Vitte’s Program” aimed at the creation of the national industry during the country’s economic modernization. In this context the monopoly solved an important problem, in particular, it helped to search and attract funds inside the country in order to solve the set targets, which caused controversial reaction in the society. A number of prominent state and social officials as well as famous economic scientists spoke about its implementation. Methods and materials. The author analyzed different points of view expressed by such officials as: M.M. Kovalevskiy, I.H. Ozerov, P.P. Migulin, N.A. Velyaminov, N.I. Fridman, M.N. Kulomzin, A.F. Koni, P.L. Bark, V.N. Kokovtsov, P.H. Shvanebach, L.D. Hodskiy and others, who gave their estimation of social and economic consequences of introduction of the wine monopoly, as well as the role of Vitte in its development, implementation and social and economic consequences, in their publications, articles, reminiscences and memoirs. Basic methods of research used in the article are historical and genetic and comparative historical. They allow assessing general and specific issues in the approaches and assessments of the completed reform. Analysis. Although the necessity of the monopoly introduction was discussed in the Government long before Vitte, his predecessors at the position of the minister of finance have not decided to make this step, as they understood the reaction, which will be caused in the society due to its introduction. Indeed, after the monopoly has been introduced, a number of prominent state and social activists expressed their opinion about the necessity of its introduction, the role of Vitte in its development and implementation as well as about the social and economic consequences of this reform. Among the liberal circles the estimations were mostly of a critical nature. Having admitted that the excise system was not able to eliminate alcoholism and that the organization of alcoholic industry needed serious reforms, liberal mass media of that period did not anchor any hopes on the improvement of the industry with the official trade. However, the analysis of the reform made among its developers as well as certain scientific and social actors was more balanced and objective. Results. Therefore, the reform of drinks (wine monopoly), which was introduced by Vitte in 1894 and existed almost till the beginning of the First World War was controversially assessed by its contemporaries and, as it was shown during the conducted research, often the reason for this was the attitude to Vitte himself. The critics of Vitte, as a rule, did not take into account that by introducing the monopoly he defended mostly the interests of the state and after his resignation he was no longer personally responsible for its final results. In this regard, the last minister of finance of the Russian Empire, P.L. Bark, who replaced the monopoly during the First World War with the nonalcohol law, in his memoirs highly appraised the role of Vitte in the development and implementation of the reform and considered it quite reasonable in the relevant historical conditions. Most of the contemporaries agreed that the introduction of the monopoly helped to significantly increase the cash flow to the budget, at that, the monopoly failed to solve the second important goal, which is the decrease of alcoholism level among peasants – major part of the empire’s population. The advantage of the reform, which almost nobody challenges, is the significant increase of the quality of consumed product
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