US Software Law May Affect UK Companies

Under a recent controversial law approved at the federal level in the USA, some software vendors may have the right to remotely disable software if they believe that the software user is in breach of their licence. It is one of a number of rights included in the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) which critics argue unfairly swings the law in favour of software vendors. If UCITA is ratified by the US States, companies who sell or purchase software under agreements subject to US law may feel its impact in England.     

Employing transaction aggregation strategy to detect credit card fraud

Credit card fraud costs consumers and the financial industry billions of dollars annually. However, there is a dearth of published literature on credit card fraud detection. In this study we employed transaction aggregation strategy to detect credit card fraud. We aggregated transactions to capture consumer buying behavior prior to each transaction and used these aggregations for model estimation to identify fraudulent transactions. We use real-life data of credit card transactions from an international credit card operation for transaction aggregation and model estimation.     

k-Dimensional hashing scheme for hard disk integrity verification in computer forensics

Verifying the integrity of a hard disk is an important concern in computer forensics,as the law enforcement party needs to confirm that the data inside the hard disk have not been modified during the investigation.A typical approach is to compute a single chained hash value of all sectors in a specific order.However,this technique loses the integrity of all other sectors even if only one of the sectors becomes a bad sector occasionally or is modified intentionally.In this paper we propose a k-dimensional hashing scheme,kD for short,to distribute sectors into a kD space,and to calculate multiple hash values for sectors in k dimensions as integrity evidence.Since the integrity of the sectors can be verified depending on any hash value calculated using the sectors,the probability to verify the integrity of unchanged sectors can be high even with bad/modified sectors in the hard disk.We show how to efficiently implement this kD hashing scheme such that the storage of hash values can be reduced while increasing the chance of an unaffected sector to be verified successfully.Experimental results of a 3D scheme show that both the time for computing the hash values and the storage for the hash values are reasonable.     

Lipid malabsorption persists after weaning in rats whose dams were given GLP-2 and dexamethasone

Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) enhances intestinal growth and absorption in mature animals, and glucocorticosteroids (GC) increase the sugar and lipid uptake in adult animals. However, the role of GC and GLP-2 in the ontogeny of lipid absorption is unknown. We hypothesized that GLP-2 and the GC dexamethasone (DEX), when administrated to rat dams during pregnancy and lactation, would enhance lipid uptake in the off-spring. Rat dams were treated in the last 10 d of pregnancy and during lactation with GLP-2 [0.1 μg/g/d subcutaneous (sc)], DEX (0.128 μg/g/d sc), GLP-2+DEX, or a placebo. Sucklings were sacrificed at 19–21 d of age, and weanlings were sacrificed 4 wk later. Lipid uptake was assessed using an in vitro ring uptake method. Although DEX and GLP-2+DEX increased the jejunal mass, the jejunal lipid uptake was unchanged. In contrast, GLP-2, DEX, and GLP-2+DEX reduced the ileal lipid uptake in suckling and weanling rats. This reduction was not due to alterations in intestinal morphology or to changes in fatty acid-binding protein abundance, but it was partially explained by an increase in the effective resistance of the intestinal unstirred water layer. In sucklings, DEX dramatically reduced the jejunal lipid uptake to levels similar to those seen in weanlings, such that the normal ontogenic decline in lipid uptake was not observed. Giving dams GLP-2 or DEX during pregnancy and lactation reduced lipid uptake in the offspring, and this persisted for at least 1 mon. The impact this may have on the nutritional well-being of the animal in later life is unknown.     

X‐ray tomography of feed‐to‐glass transition of simulated borosilicate waste glasses

High‐level waste feed composition affects the overall melting rate by influencing the chemical, thermophysical, and morphological properties of a cold cap layer that floats on the molten glass where most feed‐to‐glass reactions occur. Data from X‐ray computed tomography imaging of melting pellets comprised of a simulated high‐aluminum feed reveal the morphology of bubbles, known as the primary foam, for various feed compositions at temperatures between 600°C and 1040°C. These feeds were formulated to make glasses with viscosities ranging from 0.5 to 9.5 Pa s at 1150°C, which was accomplished by changing the SiO₂/(B₂O₃+Na₂O+Li₂O) ratio in the final glass. Pellet dimensions and profile area, average and maximum bubble areas, bubble diameter, and void fraction were evaluated. The feed viscosity strongly affects the onset of the primary foaming and the foam collapse temperature. Despite the decreasing amount of gas‐evolving components (Li₂CO₃, H₃BO₃, and Na₂CO₃), as the feed viscosity increases, the measured foam expansion rate does not decrease. This suggests that the primary foaming is not only affected by changes in the primary melt viscosity but also by the compositional reaction kinetic effects. The temperature‐dependent foam morphological data will be used to inform cold cap model development for a high‐level radioactive waste glass melter.     

Chemistry of archaeological animal fats

Animal fats are preserved at archaeological sites in association with unglazed pottery, human and animal remains, and other deposits or hoards. High-temperature gas chromatography (HT-GC) and combined HT-GC/mass spectrometry (HT-GC/MS) has confirmed the presence of animal fats in lipid extracts of artifacts. Degradation products and pathways have been discerned through the analyses of archaeological finds and the products of laboratory and field-based decay experiments. The origins of preserved fats have been determined through detailed compositional analysis of their component fatty acids by GC, by GC/MS of dimethyl disulfide derivatives of monoenoic components, and by GC-combustion-isotope ratio-MS (GC-C-IRMS), to derive diagenetically robust delta(13)C values. Regiospecific analysis of intact triacylglycerols by high-performance liquid chromatography/MS (HPLC/MS), with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization, provides a further criterion for establishing the origin of fats. Preparative GC has been employed to isolate individual fatty acids from archaeological pottery in sufficient amounts for (14)C dating.     

Ecological change associated with historic industrial activity in the St. Lawrence River at Cornwall,ON: A paleo-ecotoxicological assessment using subfossil chironomid assemblages

Twentieth-century historic industrial activity in Cornwall, ON loaded high amounts of metals and metalloids to the St. Lawrence River. Despite industrial improvements and the eventual closure of point-source polluters, sedimentary contamination in the Cornwall waterfront remains above provincial guidelines, causing concern for ecosystem management. We analysed chironomid (Order: Diptera) subfossils from modern-day surface-sediment samples and a sediment core from the Cornwall waterfront in order to better understand historic pollution impacts and potential recovery. Modern-day chironomid assemblages were diverse (48 genera, >70 species) and overall assemblage structure was weakly related to sedimentary zinc concentrations, with Procladius, Paratanytarsus, and Ablabesmyia identified as zinc-tolerant and Rheotanytarsus, Polypedilum and Paratendipes identified as zinc-sensitive. The sediment core showed peak total mercury (THg) concentrations were an order of magnitude higher than in modern-day surface sediments. In sections of the core below 10 cm in depth, THg concentrations were high (~30–50 µg/g) and chironomids were nearly absent from the record. Above 10 cm (c. 1980) THg concentrations decreased and chironomid taxa returned in low abundances. Subsequent intervals displayed an increase in diversity, abundance, and the relative abundance of metal-sensitive taxa. This study provides evidence of ecological change which co-occurs with Cornwall’s historic industrial activity and indicates progress toward related ecological goals identified in the current management strategy.     

庭院时光 日本福冈某私人住宅

<正>小时候,孩子们的游乐场是房屋与房屋之间狭长的小路,是花园的边缘,是仓库的后巷,是废弃的工房。但当经济大发展将城市土地变得寸土寸金,钢筋水泥的商业森林便开始吞噬孩子们的领地。     

Occurrence of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Smoke Flavourings

The presence of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in four liquid smoke flavourings of different origins has been studied, in order to test whether a relation between their PAH content and their composition could be established, and to evaluate whether the use of these flavourings could involve a risk to human health. The samples were subjected to an alkaline treatment, extracted with cyclohexane, cleaned up, and the PAHs determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results reveal a wide range of PAHs, especially in the commercial flavourings studied, which present higher concentrations of both total and carcinogenic PAHs than those obtained in the laboratory. Benzo(a)pyrene has been detected in three of the samples studied, but its levels do not exceed, in any of the cases, the 10 μg/kg value fixed by the FAO/WHO.