Automatic low-cost IP watermarking technique based on output mark insertions

Today, although intellectual properties (IP) and their reuse are common, their use is causing design security issues: illegal copying, counterfeiting, and reverse engineering. IP watermarking is an efficient way to detect an unauthorized IP copy or a counterfeit. In this context, many interesting solutions have been proposed. However, few combine the watermarking process with synthesis. This article presents a new solution, i.e. automatic low cost IP watermarking included in the high-level synthesis process. The proposed method differs from those cited in the literature as the marking is not material, but is based on mathematical relationships between numeric values as inputs and outputs at specified times. Some implementation results with Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA that the proposed solution required a lower area and timing overhead than existing solutions.     

Automatic categorisation of comments in social news websites

The use of the social web has brought a series of changes in the way how content is created. In particular, social news sites link stories and the different users can comment them. In this paper, we propose a new method based on different features extracted from the text able to categorise the comments. To this end, we use a combination of statistical, syntactic and opinion features and machine-learning classifiers to classify a comment within three different categorisation types: the focus of the comment, the type of information contained in the comment and the controversy level of the comment. We validate our approach with data from ‘Menéame’, a popular Spanish social news site.     

Carrier trapping and delocalization in PbI2-containing CdI2 crystals

Two pairs of electron and hole traps have been identified in PbI₂-containing CdI₂ crystals in the range 80–305 K using a combination of thermally stimulated and photoinduced depolarization of a photoelectret state. The electron traps are identified as Pb⁺ centers in nanocrystalline 2H- and 4H-PbI₂ inclusions in the CdI₂ lattice. One of the hole centers is assumed to be a Pb²⁺ vacancy. All of the traps in the binary crystalline system are related to the presence of PbI₂ impurities as a consequence of the formation of heterojunctions between the CdI₂ matrix and nanocrystalline PbI₂ inclusions. We have calculated the energy distribution for filled traps.     

Antecedents of construction project coalitions: a study of the Spanish construction industry

Research into the formation of alliances, relevant in the field of strategic management and especially, in the construction industry, is often explained in terms of interdependency and complementarities (exogenous factors). In contrast, the influence of a firm’s social relations networks (endogenous factors) has hardly been studied at all. Thus, a model is needed that includes both exogenous and endogenous factors as antecedents to the formation of strategic alliances in the construction industry. Cooperation in the construction sector is especially frequent, above all in public works programmes, as their scale requires coalitions of different‐sized firms. Accordingly, to explore how both exogenous and endogenous factors influence the formation of alliances, a social network analytical method—Multiple Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure (MRQAP)—was applied to cooperative project coalitions in the Spanish public works construction sector from 2001–2007. Empirical findings confirm that construction companies form coalitions, principally on the basis of past alliances. Membership of business associations and groups is also a key factor, though the influence of geographic proximity is the most debatable result. In the construction industry, the formation of alliances is conditioned, among other factors, by previous social and economic relations that can generate the necessary information and trust for the selection of whichever partner is considered the most suitable for the development of the joint project.     

Fire-resistant polymer nanocomposites based on metal oxides and hydroxides

The fire-resistant properties of polymer nanocomposites based on polyvinylchloride and nanoparticles of metal compounds were studied. The investigation of nanoparticles and the determination of their sizes were carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The size of the nanoparticles of magnesium hydroxide was equal to 50–100 nm; iron oxide, 25–50 nm; and zinc oxide, 50–100 nm. Another type of fire retardant used in the work was aminotrimethylenephosphonic acid ammonium salt (AMPAS); however, the total content of the different additives did not exceed 15%. The nanocomposites obtained were investigated by means of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC); in addition, the parameters of the oxygen index (OI) and carbon residue (CR) were measured for them. The lowest combustibility was exemplified by the composite material containing as the fire retardants a mixture of AMPAS and ZnO.     

Culture and ideology in Ian Suttie's theory of mind.

The author discusses the comprehensive outlook that shaped Ian Suttie's psychology. Suttie is seen as a background influence behind the British school of psychoanalysis, and his ideas pervade that school and therefore late-modern notions of the mind. The author describes the formation of Suttie's independent theory, and argues that his project was expressly ideological, as he tried to counter what he saw as the reactionary and disruptive influence of Freud's classical theory. Suttie offered an optimistic perception of the mind, which could serve as the basis for a progressive social policy. This perception was rooted in the outlook of early 20th-century reforming liberalism, whose preferences and prejudices it shares. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)