Worker Monitoring

Computing operates in an almost universally networked environment, but the technical aspects of information protection have not kept up. As a result, the success of information security programmes has increasingly become a function of our ability to make prudent management decisions about organizational activities. Managing Network Security takes a management view of protection and seeks to reconcile the need for security with the limitations of technology.     

Hydraulic Conductivity of Soils from Grain-Size Distribution: New Models

This paper presents new developments of regression-based models to predict the saturated hydraulic conductivity of compacted soils from grain-size distribution. The models incorporate parameter values that adequately represent the distribution of grain sizes. Alternative representations of the grain-size distribution, the fractal dimension and entropy of the distributions, as well as porosity, soil density, and fines content are used in the models to estimate the hydraulic conductivity. These parameters that characterize the textural and hydraulic properties of the soil are combined and used in a multidimensional analysis to estimate the hydraulic conductivity. The predictions of the developed models are compared with those of existing models and laboratory measurements of hydraulic conductivity. The results suggest that the newly developed models outperform the existing models in predicting hydraulic conductivity using information from grain-size distribution. The presented models are suggested as alternatives to, for example, laboratory measurements of the hydraulic conductivity of certain soils that may be difficult to prepare or that may take several days or perhaps weeks to perform. In certain circumstances it may also be used to give first-hand information about the hydraulic properties in a field environment.     

Model-Supported Impact Assessment for the Water Sector in Central Germany Under Climate Change—A Case Study

Climate change challenges water managers and researchers to find sustainable management solutions, in order to avoid undesirable impacts on water resources, environment and water-dependent sectors. Needed are projections into the future for the main driving forces, the resulting pressures on water resources, and quantification of the impacts. Modeling studies can play an important role in investigating, quantifying, and communicating possible impacts of climate change, with account of uncertainty of the results. However, climate change related impacts and a need for adaptation still play a minor role in current river basin management plans that have to comply e.g. with the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). One important reason is that climate impact assessment is generally done in research institutes, while management plans are designed by practitioners working in national and regional environmental agencies and water supply companies. Knowledge transfer from science to practice and visa versa is often missing. In the present study, we propose a methodology and a case study for model-supported decision making in the water sector applicable to a participatory water resources planning process. The methodology is applied in a case study investigating climate change impacts on water resources. The case study area is the German State of Saxony-Anhalt, where the task was to develop a climate change impact assessment including possible adaptation measures as basis for a federal adaptation directive.     

Managing Network Security: Watching the World

Computing operates in an almost universally networked environment, but the technical aspects of information protection have not kept up. As a result, the success of information security programmes has increasingly become a function of our ability to make prudent management decisions about organizational activities. Managing Network Security takes a management view of protection and seeks to reconcile the need for security with the limitations of technology.     

Simplified amplification factors representing material and geometric inelasticity in frame instability

An approach for assessing the inelastic, in-plane, collapse load of framed structures using amplification factors is extended to a broader range of material inelasticity. This manual method is based on the amplification factor approach for elastic, rectangular frames in the Canadian steel design code, but allows for material and geometric nonlinearity of both rectangular and non-rectangular frames on a consistent basis. Improved accuracy is achieved with a linear variation of the incremental amplification factor between a lower limit at the onset of inelastic behaviour and an upper limit at which plastic collapse occurs. A method is demonstrated for notionally separating the effects of material and geometric nonlinearity in experimental measurements or advanced finite element analyses. This is used for validating the proposed inelastic models for a steel frame and a reinforced concrete frame.     

Object management in a persistent smalltalk system

The main goal of the Alltalk project is to provide transparent database support to the Smalltalk programmer. As a first step towards this goal, the current version of Alltalk extends Smalltalk-80 by providing persistence to Smalltalk objects without adding a database sublanguage, new language syntax, classes or methods. This paper describes the implementation of object management in Alltalk, including database layout, database access methods, in-memory object management and high-level interface from the interpreter. It also discusses how the object manager is integrated in a unique way with the operations of the Alltalk garbage collector and interpreter.     

Theoretical and philosophical issues in psychoanalysis.

Discusses the question of whether philosophical issues have a significant place in contemporary psychoanalytic thought. Topics covered include how the psychoanalytic theoretic enterprise is best viewed, how the person is viewed as an actor in his own life story, and the nature-nurture controversy. The author believes that current psychoanalytic thought reflects the philosophical concerns of mankind through the ages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mining and fusion of petroleum data with fuzzy logic and neural network agents

Analyzing data from well logs and seismic is often a complex and laborious process because a physical relationship cannot be established to show how the data are correlated. In this study, we will develop the next generation of “intelligent” software that will identify the nonlinear relationship and mapping between well logs/rock properties and seismic information and extract rock properties, relevant reservoir information and rules (knowledge) from these databases. The software will use fuzzy logic techniques because the data and our requirements are imperfect. In addition, it will use neural network techniques, since the functional structure of the data is unknown. In particular, the software will be used to group data into important data sets; extract and classify dominant and interesting patterns that exist between these data sets; discover secondary, tertiary and higher-order data patterns; and discover expected and unexpected structural relationships between data sets.