Security and privacy challenges in open and dynamic environments

Information system security and privacy, once narrow topics primarily of interest to IS designers, have become critically important to society at large. The scope of associated challenges and applications is broadening accordingly, leading to new requirements and approaches. Information networks are evolving into more open and dynamic systems. Security and privacy enforcement is problematic in these systems due to the lack of a common understanding of requirements and information as well as user unpredictability. Shared ontologies, declarative policies, and trust models offer the most promising approaches to meet these challenges.     

A Pervasive Computing System for the Operating Room of the Future

We describe a prototype context aware perioperative information system to capture and interpret data in an operating room of the future. The captured data is used to construct the context of the surgical procedure and detect medically significant events. Such events, and other state information, are used to automatically construct an electronic medical encounter record (EMR). The EMR records and correlates significant medical data and video streams with an inferred higher-level event model of the surgery. Information from sensors such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags provides basic context information including the presence of medical staff, devices, instruments and medication in the operating room (OR). Patient monitoring systems and sensors such as pulse oximeters and anesthesia machines provide continuous streams of physiological data. These low level data streams are processed to generate higher-level primitive events, such as a nurse entering the OR. A hierarchical knowledge-based event detection system correlates primitive events, patient data and workflow data to infer high-level events, such as the onset of anesthesia. The resulting EMR provides medical staff with a permanent record of the surgery that can be used for subsequent evaluation and training. The system can also be used to detect potentially significant errors. It seeks to automate some of the tasks done by nursing staff today that detracts from their ability to attend to the patient.     

Cost-effective way of hard turning with newly developed HSN2-coated tool

EN-31 (AISI 52100, hardness 55 HRC) is one of the difficult-to-cut steel alloys and it is commonly used in shafts and bearings. Nowadays, it is becoming a challenge to the cutting tool material for economical machining of extremely tough and hard steels. In general, CBN and PCBN tools are used for machining hardened steel. However, machining cost using these tools becomes higher due to high tool cost. For this purpose, carbide tool using selective coatings is the best substitute having comparable tool life, while its cost is approximately one-tenth of CBN tool. In this work, the newly developed second-generation TiAlxN super nitride (i.e., HSN²) is selected for PVD coating on carbide tool insert and further characterized using thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry for oxidation and thermal stability at high temperature. Later, HSN²-coated carbide inserts are successfully tested for their sustainability to expected tool life for turning of AISI 52100 steel. In the present study, forces, surface finish, and tool wear are used as a measure to appraise the performance of hard turning process. Experimentally, it is found that speed, feed rate, and depth of cut have considerable impact on forces, insert wear, and surface roughness of the machined surface.     

Highly efficient dye‐sensitized solar cells using phenothiazine derivative organic dyes

Two novel organic dyes have been synthesized using electron rich phenothiazine as electron donors and oligothiophene vinylene as conjugation spacers. The two dyes (2E)‐2‐cyano‐3‐(5‐(5‐((E)‐2‐(10‐(2‐ethylhexyl)‐10H‐phenothiazin‐7‐yl)vinyl)thiophen‐2‐yl)thiophen‐2‐yl)acrylic acid (PTZ‐1) and (2E)‐3‐(5‐(5‐(4,5‐bis((E)‐2‐(10‐(2‐ethylhexyl)‐10H‐phenothiazin‐3‐yl)vinyl)thiophen‐2‐yl)thiophen‐2‐yl)thiophen‐2‐yl)‐2‐cyanoacrylic acid (PTZ‐2) were fully characterized and employed in dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSCs) to explore the effect of disubstituted donors on photovoltaic (PV) performance. The solar cells sensitized by the PTZ1 dye have a high IPCE plateau of 80% and achieve a short‐circuit photocurrent density of 12.98 mA/cm², an open‐circuit voltage of 0.713 V, and a fill factor (ff) of 66.6%, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 6.17% under AM 1.5 100 mW/cm² illumination. The different performance of the solar cells based on the two dyes can be understood from the studies of the electron kinetics by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). These investigations reveal that disubstituted donors in the organic sensitizers of three or more conjugation units deteriorate the PV performance due to enhanced recombination. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Accurate calculation of transverse shear stresses for soft-core sandwich laminates

Accurate evaluation of transverse stresses in soft-core sandwich laminates using the existing 2D finite element (FE) models involves cumbersome post-processing techniques. In this paper, a simple and robust method is proposed for accurate evaluation of through-the-thickness distribution of transverse stresses in soft-core sandwich laminates by using a displacement-based C⁰ continuous 2D FE model derived from refined higher-order shear deformation theory (RHSDT) and a least square error (LSE) method. In this refined higher-order shear deformation theory (RHSDT), the in-plane displacement field for the face sheets and the core is obtained by superposing a global cubically varying displacement field on a zigzag linearly early varying displacement field. The transverse displacement is assumed to have a quadratic variation within the core, and it remains constant in the faces beyond the core. The proposed C⁰ FE model satisfies the condition of transverse shear stress continuity at the layer interfaces and the zero transverse shear stress condition at the top and bottom of the sandwich plate. The nodal field variables are chosen in an efficient manner to circumvent the problem of C¹ continuity requirement of the transverse displacements associated with the RHSDT. The LSE method is applied to the 3D equilibrium equations of the plate problem at the post-processing stage, after in-plane stresses are calculated by using the above FE model based on RHSDT. Thus, the proposed method is quite simple and elegant compared to the usual method of integrating the 3D equilibrium equations at the post-processing stage for the calculation of transverse stresses in a sandwich laminates. The accuracy of the proposed method is demonstrated in the numerical examples through the comparison of the present results with those obtained from different models based on HSDT and 3D elasticity solutions.     

Graphene Based Circular Shaped Micro Strip Patch Antenna Array for 2.45 GHz ISM Band Application

Wireless Personal Communications - Graphene based circular microstrip patch antenna array is presented in this paper. First a single circular patch to resonate at 2.45 GHz is designed in...     

Deciphering the flow structure of Czochralski melt using Partially Averaged Navier–Stokes (PANS) method

Czochralski melt flow is an outcome of complex interactions of centrifugal, buoyancy, coriolis and surface tension forces, which act at different length and time scales. As a consequence, the characteristic flow structures that develop in the melt are delineated in terms of recirculating flow cells typical of rotating Bénard–Marangoni convection. In the present study, Partially Averaged Navier–Stokes (PANS) method is used for the first time to study an idealized Czochralski crystal growth set-up. It is observed that with a reduction in the PANS filter width, more turbulent scales are resolved and the present PANS model is able to resolve almost all the characteristic flow structures in the Czochralski flow at a comparatively lower computational cost compared with more advanced turbulence modelling tools, such as Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES).     

Headspace volatiles along with other instrumental and sensory analyses as indices of maturation of horse mackerel miso

Development of aroma-active compounds during fermentation in the preparation of fermented fish-meat paste product (fish miso) from horse mackerel meat was quantitatively determined and characterized by olfactometric and organoleptic assessments. The critical ripening time was estimated by quantitative and/or qualitative analyses of volatile compounds, peptides, amino acids, product color, and total phenolics of the fish miso matrix throughout fermentation. The results confirmed that the application of koji for the fermentation of horse mackerel meat to produce fish miso significantly reduced the fishy off odor and promoted the development of highly acceptable fish miso with a nutty, cheesy, and fruity aroma. Ethyl acetate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl decanoate, 2-methylpropanal, 3-methylbutanal, 2,3-butanedione, dimethyl trisulfide, and 3-(methylthio) propanal were identified as key odor-active compounds in fish miso prepared from horse mackerel meat. Among the volatiles, 2-methylpropanal, 3-methylbutanal, and 2,3-butanedione were identified to serve as potential indicators of the maturation of fish miso. Amino acid content could also be a potential indicator of maturation of protein-rich, fermented products such as fish miso. In addition, surface color analysis of fish miso revealed a high correlation between sensory attributes and color components. Specifically, r and b values were considered potential indicators of maturation. Practical Application: Variability is a major drawback in fermented products such as fish miso and it requires establishing the optimum ripening time, defined as that providing the aroma attributes qualitatively and quantitatively mostly appreciated by consumers. We have carried out this work for comprehensive determination of the critical ripening time by applying several instrumental and sensory tools including quantitative and/or qualitative analysis of volatile compounds, peptides, amino acids, product color, and total phenolics of the fish miso matrix throughout the fermentation period. The outcome of the present study can be efficiently applied for detection of maturation in similar types of fermented product for large-scale production.     

Identification and characterisation of headspace volatiles of fish miso, a Japanese fish meat based fermented paste,with special emphasis on effect of fish species and meat washing

The present study investigated the suitability of four species of trash fishes for the production of fish miso, a Japanese fermented fish meat paste compared with soy and rice miso from the point of view of product aroma. The effect of washing fish meat on finished product was also evaluated. Headspace volatiles for different miso samples were analyzed by using solid phase microextraction (SPME) technique. A total of 107 volatile compounds have been identified, where 94 were common for all the miso samples. Considering the lower threshold perception and higher odour active values 2-methylbutanal, 3-methylbutanal, methional, isoamyl acetate, dimethyl disulfide, dimethyl trisulfide, 2,3-butanedione, 3-methylethyl butanoate, 3-methyl-1-butanol, ethyl hexanoate, 1-octen-3-ol, heptanol, heptanal and 2-undecanone were identified as key compounds for the miso products. Principal components analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) of headspace volatiles clearly elucidated the relationship amongst different miso samples based on fish species and effect of fresh water washing of meat on aroma of finished product.     

Short communication: Effect of carbon emission trading on European Union butter prices

Since its inception, the European Union (EU) carbon emission market has been vastly successful in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Accordingly, the usage of environmentally friendly fuels (e.g., ethanol, biodiesel) has increased significantly over the last few years. Given that EU biodiesel is mainly produced from rapeseed oil and soybean oil, higher carbon taxes are likely to increase the demand of these important vegetable oils, which further affects the prices of its close substitute such as butter. Nevertheless, the association between the EU emission trading scheme and butter prices remains understudied. In this paper, we aim to fill this vacuum in the existing literature. Applying the autoregressive distributed lag bound testing procedure, we show that emission market seems to have a long-term effect on EU butter prices, implying that changes in the levels of carbon taxes will lead to changes in the price level of butter. These results are of vital importance to policymakers and investors.