On Refinement-Closed Security Properties and Nondeterministic Compositions

Refinement-closed security properties allow the verification of systems for all possible implementations. Some systems, however, have refinements that do not represent possible implementations. In particular, real instantiations of abstract systems comprising security-critical components surrounded by maximally hostile unrefined components are often characterised only by compositions of refinements of the abstract system's components, rather than all refinements of the abstract system. In this case, refinement-closed security properties that examine multiple behaviours of a system at once can be falsely violated by the presence of inconsistent pairs of behaviour arising from different, incompatible refinements of the system's components.We show how to weaken a class of such properties, which includes both information flow and causation properties, to allow them to be applied to these sorts of abstract systems. The weakened properties ignore all pairs of inconsistent behaviour that would have violated the original property from which they are derived. We also show how to adapt existing automated tests for these properties to allow them to be used to test for their weakened counterparts instead. This enables greater flexibility in the application of these sorts of properties to compositions of nondeterministic components.     

A wavelet-based watermarking algorithm for ownership verificationof digital images

Access to multimedia data has become much easier due to the rapid growth of the Internet. While this is usually considered an improvement of everyday life, it also makes unauthorized copying and distributing of multimedia data much easier, therefore presenting a challenge in the field of copyright protection. Digital watermarking, which is inserting copyright information into the data, has been proposed to solve the problem. In this paper, we first discuss the features that a practical digital watermarking system for ownership verification requires. Besides perceptual invisibility and robustness, we claim that the private control of the watermark is also very important. Second, we present a novel wavelet-based watermarking algorithm. Experimental results and analysis are then given to demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is effective and can be used in a practical system.     

Sustainability Reporting and Water Resources: a Preliminary Assessment of Embodied Water and Sustainable Mining

This paper presents a preliminary compilation and analysis of the water reported to have been consumed by a range of various mineral commodities and compares it to mine production data. This has been undertaken to assess and quantify the ‘embodied water’ of mineral products—a key aspect of sustainability (embodied water is the total water required to produce a good or service). At present, although the use of formal reporting protocols such as the global reporting initiative (GRI) is increasing, there are still critical weaknesses. Some key aspects to facilitate proper water accounting are not listed in sustainability reports, including the extent of recycled water used, mine site water inventories, the quality of various waters, and impacts on water resources. Based on the data compiled, there is wide variation in the water used for different mineral commodities as well as for the same commodity. There is little evidence for ‘economies of scale’ in base metals and bulk minerals, though for precious metals (gold, platinum), greater throughput does tend to lead to greater efficiency. For many mines, there is little evidence of improving efficiency over time, although some mines have made substantive improvements in reducing water consumed. The grade of ore being processed is clearly critical in understanding the embodied water of minerals, with declining ore grades leading to an increased chance of higher embodied water in the future. Given that many metals are declining in average ore grade, the sensitivity of embodied water to ore grade provides a major sustainability challenge for mining generally. In summary, the embodied water of minerals is clearly significant, and will likely gradually increase in the future, and so must be more completely accounted for to understand a fundamental aspect of sustainability and mining—that of water resources.     

Clustered crystalline structures as glassy phase approximants

This paper presents some crystalline structures which can be taken as the approximants of the corresponding metallic glassy phases. Such phases have a clustered structure and preferably (but not strictly necessarily) a large unit cell. Peak intensities of their radial distribution functions (RDFs) must be integrated at a step of about 0.01 nm in order to obtain RDFs similar to those of the corresponding glassy alloys owing to a degree of disorder related to the corresponding glassy structures.     

Synthetic bioabsorbable microtubes for the treatment of surgical sites

Bioabsorbable polyglycolide-co-lactide microtubes have been developed for the continuous delivery of fluid medications directly to an operative site. Studies conducted with radio-opaque solution using porcine models indicated that infusion of fluids in the wound site was rapid and complete. The tissue reaction to the microtube was generally characterized as minimal to mild with complete absorption occurring within 56 days postimplantation. Processing–microstructure-property relationships and bio-degradation characteristics of the microtubes are presented.     

The accuracy of reference lists in five experimental psychology journals.

Reference lists appended to published journals are of critical importance to readers of academic literature. They allow readers to retrieve cited sources, either to increase their own knowledge or to substantiate the authors' claims, and in so doing help to establish the judgment and credibility of the authors (M. F. McLellan et al, 1992). However, erroneous references detract from the intended function of reference lists by impeding retrieval searches and by providing misleading bibliographic information (G. de Lacey et al, 1985; McLellan et al, 1992). The present study aims to assess the accuracy of reference lists in five experimental psychology journals published by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1999 (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, and Journal of Experimental Psychology: General). Perhaps the most disturbing result from this study is the finding that authors were incorrectly cited in 12% of reference list citations, with errors in the initials of the authors being the most common. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time of Sampling Strategies for Asphalt Pavement Quality Assurance

The cost of quality assurance programs in asphalt road construction is high in part because of the need for daily testing. This paper demonstrates the methodology used to investigate the timing of sampling and its effect on the quality assurance program. Fourteen lots over two highway paving projects were tested twice: during construction on a daily basis, and after construction was complete. Three quality measures were compared, namely asphalt content, degree of compaction, and aggregate gradation. The test data during construction were obtained from two sources: the consultant’s quality assurance, and the contractor’s quality control. One-way ANOVA tests and T-tests were used to compare the means. In addition, the arithmetic difference between the means was reviewed to understand how the time of sampling might affect contractor payment adjustments.     

Behavior therapy and tricyclic medication in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A quantitative review.

A meta-analysis was used to integrate the research literature on the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Antidepressants, such as clomipramine, and behavior therapy have produced appreciable changes in obsessive-compulsive and depressive symptoms. Patients with obsessions who did not suffer from compulsions have responded less to treatment. No follow-up data have been available for clomipramine, but the benefits of behavior therapy have been shown to be stable at follow-up. Ratings of improvement by assessors have been higher than ratings made by patients. The effects of tricyclic medication and exposure therapies have not significantly differed, but both have proven significantly superior to nonspecific treatment programs. There is a need for a large, randomized comparison of clomipramine and exposure that includes adequate follow-up of subjects after treatment has concluded. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hydroxyapatite bone substitutes developed via replication of natural marine sponges

The application of synthetic cancellous bone has been shown to be highly successful when its architecture mimics that of the naturally interconnected trabeculae bone it aims to replace. The following investigation demonstrates the potential use of marine sponges as precursors in the production of ceramic based tissue engineered bone scaffolds. Three species of natural sponge, Dalmata Fina (Spongia officinalis Linnaeus, Adriatic Sea), Fina Silk (Spongia zimocca, Mediterranean) and Elephant Ear (Spongia agaricina, Caribbean) were selected for replication. A high solid content (80 %wt), low viscosity (126 mPas) hydroxyapatite slurry was developed, infiltrated into each sponge species and subsequently sintered, producing a scaffold structure that replicated pore architecture and interconnectivity of the precursor sponge. The most promising of the ceramic tissue engineered bone scaffolds developed, Spongia agaricina replicas, demonstrated an overall porosity of 56–61% with 83% of the pores ranging between 100 and 500 μm (average pore size 349 μm) and an interconnectivity of 99.92%.