National Human Trafficking Initiatives: Dimensions of Policy Diffusion1

PubMed Central

Yoo, Eun-hye; Boyle, Elizabeth Heger

2014-01-01

The implementation of criminal law involves formal law enforcement, education and public outreach aimed at preventing criminal activity, and providing services for victims. Historically, quantitative research on global trends has tended to focus on a single policy dimension, potentially masking the unique factors that affect the diffusion of each policy dimension independently. Using an ordered-probit model to analyze new human trafficking policy data on national prosecution, prevention, and victim-protection efforts, we find that global ties and domestic interest groups matter more in areas where international law is less defined. While prosecution, officially mandated by the Trafficking Protocol, was relatively impervious to global ties and domestic interest groups, both trafficking prevention and victim protection were associated with these factors. Our findings also suggest that fear of repercussions is not a major driver of state actions to combat trafficking—neither ratification of the Trafficking Protocol nor levels of United States aid were associated with greater implementation of anti-trafficking measures. PMID:26538806

National Human Trafficking Initiatives: Dimensions of Policy Diffusion.

PubMed

Yoo, Eun-Hye; Boyle, Elizabeth Heger

2015-01-01

The implementation of criminal law involves formal law enforcement, education and public outreach aimed at preventing criminal activity, and providing services for victims. Historically, quantitative research on global trends has tended to focus on a single policy dimension, potentially masking the unique factors that affect the diffusion of each policy dimension independently. Using an ordered-probit model to analyze new human trafficking policy data on national prosecution, prevention, and victim-protection efforts, we find that global ties and domestic interest groups matter more in areas where international law is less defined. While prosecution, officially mandated by the Trafficking Protocol, was relatively impervious to global ties and domestic interest groups, both trafficking prevention and victim protection were associated with these factors. Our findings also suggest that fear of repercussions is not a major driver of state actions to combat trafficking-neither ratification of the Trafficking Protocol nor levels of United States aid were associated with greater implementation of anti-trafficking measures.

Teaching Strategies: The Convention on the Rights of the Child--Suggestions for Educator Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ransom, Marilee

2012-01-01

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history, yet the United States has failed to ratify it, despite the efforts of countless supporters. Opponents of ratification in the United States have been effective at preventing ratification by asserting that the CRC will damage family…

Accelerated Adoption of Smoke-Free Laws After Ratification of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

PubMed Central

Uang, Randy; Hiilamo, Heikki

2016-01-01

Objectives. We sought to evaluate the effect of ratifying the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on countries enacting smoke-free laws covering indoor workplaces, restaurants, and bars. Methods. We compared adoption of smoke-free indoor workplace, restaurant, and bar laws in countries that did versus did not ratify the FCTC, accounting for years since the ratification of the FCTC and for countries’ World Bank income group. Results. Ratification of the FCTC significantly (P < .001) increased the probability of smoke-free laws. This effect faded with time, with a half-life of 3.1 years for indoor workplaces and 3.8 years for restaurants and bars. Compared with high-income countries, upper-middle–income countries had a significantly higher probability of smoke-free indoor workplace laws. Conclusions. The FCTC accelerated the adoption of smoke-free indoor workplace, restaurant, and bar laws, with the greatest effect in the years immediately following ratification. The policy implication is that health advocates must increase efforts to secure implementation of FCTC smoke-free provisions in countries that have not done so. PMID:26562125

Developments in Assisting Countries in Implementing the IAEA Additional Protocol

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Killinger, Mark H.; Hansen, Linda H.; Cain, Ronald A.

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) began assisting selected non-nuclear weapon states in planning and preparing for implementation of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Additional Protocol (AP). Since then, the AP international implementation program has contributed to the substantial progress made by Vietnam, Thailand, Iraq, and Malaysia in preparing for entry-into-force of the AP. An overall engagement plan has been developed with components designed to train government AP implementing agencies, inform policy makers, conduct outreach to industry and universities, make AP reporting software available and useful, and plan a detailed approach for implementing the declaration and complementary accessmore » provisions of the AP. DOE recently began collaborating with Indonesia, which has already entered the AP into force, requiring a second method of engagement somewhat different from that taken with countries that have not entered the AP into force. The AP international implementation program, administered by the International Nuclear Safeguards and Engagement Program, is working more closely with DOE’s International Nonproliferation Export Control Program to ensure countries are aware of and prepared to implement the export/import provisions of the AP. As the AP implementation program matures and helps move countries closer to entry-into-force or improved AP implementation, it is identifying characteristics of a country’s “end-state” that indicate that DOE assistance is no longer required. The U.S. AP Implementation Act and Senate Resolution of Ratification require the Administration to report annually to Congress on measures taken to achieve the adoption of the AP in non-nuclear weapon states. DOE’s AP international implementation program is a significant part of these measures. This paper describes recent developments to increase the scope and effectiveness of the program.« less

Removing the deadline for the ratification of the equal rights amendment.

THOMAS, 113th Congress

Rep. Andrews, Robert E. [D-NJ-1

2013-05-09

House - 03/12/2014 Ms. Speier asked unanimous consent that she be considered the first sponsor of H.J. Res. 43, removing the deadline for the ratification of the equal rights amendment, a bill originally introduced by Representative Robert Andrews of New Jersey, for the purposes of... (All Actions) Tracker: This bill has the status IntroducedHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

3 CFR - Delegation of Responsibility Under the Senate Resolution of Advice and Consent to Ratification of...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 3 The President 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Delegation of Responsibility Under the Senate Resolution of Advice and Consent to Ratification of the Treaty Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Concerning Defense Trade Cooperation; and the Defense Trad...

Chair of U. S. Ocean Policy Commission Urges Law of the Sea Ratification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Showstack, Randy

2004-06-01

The chair of the Congressionally-mandated U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy has urged the Senate to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea this year. Speaking at the Capitol Hill Oceans Week 2004 conference in Washington, D.C. on 10 June, James Watkins told the audience to help ``break the hold that a couple of senators have on that bill.'' Ratification of the treaty is among the key recommendations of the commission's interim report, which was issued on 20 April. The commission has referred to the convention as a ``constitution'' for the oceans.

George Kuzmycz Training Center : 5 years of American-Ukrainian efforts in the field of material control and accounting

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gavrilyuk, V. I.; Gavrylyuk, A. V.; Kirischuk, V. I.

2004-01-01

The George Kuzmycz Training Center for Physical Protection, Control and Accounting of Nuclear Material (GKTC) was established in October 1998 at the Kiev Institute for Nuclear Research. During the past six years, about 700 professionals from all Ukrainian nuclear installations, executive and regulatory bodies were trained at the GKTC. Future Material Control and Accounting (MC&A) training courses are going to be held even more frequently because Ukraine has already signed the Additional Model Protocol and its ratification by Ukrainian Parliament is expected to happen very soon. Additionally, a number of new training courses will be developed. US DOE trough Argonnemore » National Laboratory has made significant efforts to transfer Automated Inventory/Material Accounting System (AIMAS) software to Ukraine. As a result, AIMAS software can be used as a basic code for the development of the Computerized MC&A System for all Ukrainian nuclear facilities despite their differences. In 2003, a new laboratory for Nondestructive Assay (NDA) was established with assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy. As a result, GKTC training capabilities will increase substantially. Furthermore, in order to increase the efficiency of NDA laboratory, it is planned to use the NDA equipment for a program of interdiction of illicit traffic of nuclear materials in Ukraine. American-Ukrainian MC&A efforts for the last 6 years, the problems encountered and the solutions to these problems, as well as comments, suggestions and recommendations for future activity at GKTC to promote and improve the nuclear material management culture in Ukraine are discussed in detail.« less

45 CFR 1612.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... electronically transmitted communication or any advertisement, telegram, letter, article, newsletter, or other..., ratification of treaties and intergovernmental agreements, approval of appointments and budgets, and approval...

Codification of patients' rights in Poland--the Patients' Rights Act 2008.

PubMed

Bosek, Leszek; Pawliczak, Jakub

2010-09-01

The Act of 6 November 2008 on Patients' Rights and the Commissioner for Patients' Rights collect and safeguard patients' basic rights as well as provide, for the first time in Poland, an original concept for patients' collective rights. In addition, the new Act stipulates the specific mechanism for protecting patients' rights by the newly established body called the Commissioner for Patients' Rights. Polish reform of medical law will undoubtedly contribute to the expected ratification of the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine. However, the nature of codified rights is relatively abstract, and the Act cannot be read without reference to legislation related to physicians and health care institutions.

25 CFR 81.18 - Manner of voting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... the adoption of a constitution, the ratification of a charter, or the amendment of such documents... further, that no charter shall be considered ratified if the proposed constitution is not adopted and...

Early action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before the commitment period of the Kyoto protocol: advantages and disadvantages.

PubMed

Michaelowa, A; Rolfe, C

2001-09-01

Current "business as usual" projections suggest greenhouse gas emissions from industrialized nations will grow substantially over the next decade. However, if it comes into force, the Kyoto Protocol will require industrialized nations to reduce emissions to an average of 5% below 1990 levels in the 2008-2012 period. Taking early action to close this gap has a number of advantages. It reduces the risks of passing thresholds that trigger climate change "surprises." Early action also increases future generations' ability to choose greater levels of climate protection, and it leads to faster reductions of other pollutants. From an economic sense, early action is important because it allows shifts to less carbon-intensive technologies during the course of normal capital stock turnover. Moreover, many options for emission reduction have negative costs, and thus are economically worthwhile, because of paybacks in energy costs, healthcare costs, and other benefits. Finally, early emission reductions enhance the probability of successful ratification and lower the risk of noncompliance with the protocol. We discuss policy approaches for the period prior to 2008. Disadvantages of the current proposals for Credit for Early Action are the possibility of adverse selection due to problematic baseline calculation methods as well as the distributionary impacts of allocating a part of the emissions budget already before 2008. One simple policy without drawbacks is the so-called baseline protection, which removes the disincentive to early action due to the expectation that businesses may, in the future, receive emission rights in proportion to past emissions. It is particularly important to adopt policies that shift investment in long-lived capital stock towards less carbon-intensive technologies and to encourage innovation and technology development that will reduce future compliance costs.

Stratospheric ozone, global warming, and the principle of unintended consequences--an ongoing science and policy success story.

PubMed

Andersen, Stephen O; Halberstadt, Marcel L; Borgford-Parnell, Nathan

2013-06-01

In 1974, Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland warned that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) could destroy the stratospheric ozone layer that protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. In the decade after scientists documented the buildup and long lifetime of CFCs in the atmosphere; found the proof that CFCs chemically decomposed in the stratosphere and catalyzed the depletion of ozone; quantified the adverse effects; and motivated the public and policymakers to take action. In 1987, 24 nations plus the European Community signed the Montreal Protocol. Today, 25 years after the Montreal Protocol was agreed, every United Nations state is a party (universal ratification of 196 governments); all parties are in compliance with the stringent controls; 98% of almost 100 ozone-depleting chemicals have been phased out worldwide; and the stratospheric ozone layer is on its way to recovery by 2065. A growing coalition of nations supports using the Montreal Protocol to phase down hydrofluorocarbons, which are ozone safe but potent greenhouse gases. Without rigorous science and international consensus, emissions of CFCs and related ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) could have destroyed up to two-thirds of the ozone layer by 2065, increasing the risk of causing millions of cancer cases and the potential loss of half of global agricultural production. Furthermore, because most, ODSs are also greenhouse gases, CFCs and related ODSs could have had the effect of the equivalent of 24-76 gigatons per year of carbon dioxide. This critical review describes the history of the science of stratospheric ozone depletion, summarizes the evolution of control measures and compliance under the Montreal Protocol and national legislation, presents a review of six separate transformations over the last 100 years in refrigeration and air conditioning (A/C) technology, and illustrates government-industry cooperation in continually improving the environmental performance of motor vehicle A/C.

Stratospheric ozone, global warming, and the principle of unintended consequences-An ongoing science and policy success story.

PubMed

Andersen, Stephen O; Halberstadt, Marcel L; Borgford-Parnell, Nathan

2013-06-01

In 1974, Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland warned that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) could destroy the stratospheric ozone layer that protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. In the decade after, scientists documented the buildup and long lifetime of CFCs in the atmosphere; found the proof that CFCs chemically decomposed in the stratosphere and catalyzed the depletion of ozone; quantified the adverse effects; and motivated the public and policymakers to take action. In 1987, 24 nations plus the European Community signed the Montreal Protocol. Today, 25 years after the Montreal Protocol was agreed, every United Nations state is a party (universal ratification of 196 governments); all parties are in compliance with the stringent controls; 98% of almost 100 ozone-depleting chemicals have been phased out worldwide; and the stratospheric ozone layer is on its way to recovery by 2065. A growing coalition of nations supports using the Montreal Protocol to phase down hydrofluorocarbons, which are ozone safe but potent greenhouse gases. Without rigorous science and international consensus, emissions of CFCs and related ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) could have destroyed up to two-thirds of the ozone layer by 2065, increasing the risk of causing millions of cancer cases and the potential loss of half of global agricultural production. Furthermore, because most ODSs are also greenhouse gases, CFCs and related ODSs could have had the effect of the equivalent of 24-76 gigatons per year of carbon dioxide. This critical review describes the history of the science of stratospheric ozone depletion, summarizes the evolution of control measures and compliance under the Montreal Protocol and national legislation, presents a review of six separate transformations over the last 100 years in refrigeration and air conditioning (A/C) technology, and illustrates government-industry cooperation in continually improving the environmental performance of motor vehicle A/C. [Box: see text].

78 FR 67394 - Government in the Sunshine Act Meeting Notice

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-12

.... Ratification List. 4. Vote in Inv. Nos. 701-TA-505 and 731-TA-1231-1237 (Preliminary) (Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel from China, Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Korea, Poland, and Russia). The Commission is...

17 CFR 240.14a-6 - Filing requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... directors; (2) The election, approval or ratification of accountant(s); (3) A security holder proposal... materials are filed in paper and marked “Confidential, For Use of the Commission Only.” In all cases, the...

17 CFR 240.14a-6 - Filing requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... directors; (2) The election, approval or ratification of accountant(s); (3) A security holder proposal... materials are filed in paper and marked “Confidential, For Use of the Commission Only.” In all cases, the...

Research in geosciences policy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byerly, Radford, Jr.; Mcvey, Sally

1991-01-01

Various topics related to cases of difficult adaptation to global change are discussed. Topics include patterns in the ratification of global environmental treaties, the effects of global climate change on Southeast Asia, and global change and biodiversity loss.

77 FR 66631 - Government in the Sunshine Act Meeting Notice

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-06

.... Ratification List. 4. Vote in Inv. Nos. 701-TA-481 and 731-TA-1190 (Final) (Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells and Modules from China). The Commission is currently scheduled to transmit its determinations and...

The Blessings of Liberty. User's Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Historical Association, Washington, DC.

The story of the United States Constitution is told in 12 posters: "The Blessings of Liberty"; "The Articles of Confederation"; "A 'Less Perfect' Union, 1781-1788"; "The Constitutional Convention"; "The Founders' Achievement"; "The Anti-Federalist Argument"; "Ratification";…

17 CFR 240.14a-6 - Filing requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... or ratification of accountant(s); (3) A security holder proposal included pursuant to Rule 14a-8... § 230.135 of this chapter; and (iii) The materials are filed in paper and marked “Confidential, For Use...

The implications of Articles 37 and 40 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child for U.S. juvenile justice and U.S. ratification of the convention.

PubMed

Mlyniec, Wallace J

2010-01-01

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) guarantees that children accused of crimes will have the right to fair court procedures and humane sentences. Current U.S. laws concerning the child's age when a court has jurisdiction, and others concerning sentencing practices and the place of confinement, contravene the provisions of the CRC. Some U.S. laws are consistent with the treaty but are nonetheless not enforced. Recent developments, including increasing understanding of brain development, U.S. Supreme Court decisions on the constitutionality of punishments for children, and the Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment 10, will have substantial impacts on U.S. ratification. This article discusses Articles 37 and 40 of the CRC and their effect on U.S. practices if the treaty is ratified.

Addressing the tobacco epidemic in the Philippines: progress since ratification of the WHO FCTC

PubMed Central

Antonio, M.; Limpin, M.; Alzona, L.; Trinidad, F.; Dorotheo, U.; Yapchiongco, R.; Garcia, R.; Anden, A.; Alday, J.

2013-01-01

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death, and is estimated to kill more than 5 million persons each year worldwide. Tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke pose a major public health problem in the Philippines. Effective tobacco control policies are enshrined in the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a legally binding international treaty that was ratified by the Philippines in 2005. Since 2007, Bloomberg Philanthropies has supported the accelerated reduction of tobacco use in many countries, including the Philippines. Progress in the Philippines is discussed with particular emphasis on the period since ratification of the WHO FCTC, and with particular focus on the grants programme funded by the Bloomberg Initiative. Despite considerable progress, significant challenges are identified that must be addressed in future if the social, health and economic burden from the tobacco epidemic is to be alleviated. PMID:26393010

Department of Energy Efforts to Promote Universal Adherence to the IAEA Additional Protocol

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Killinger, Mark H.; Hansen, Linda H.; Kovacic, Don N.

2009-10-06

Entry-into-force of the U.S. Additional Protocol (AP) in January 2009 continues to demonstrate the ongoing commitment by the United States to promote universal adherence to the AP. The AP is a critical tool for improving the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) capabilities to detect undeclared activities that indicate a clandestine nuclear weapons program. This is because States Parties are required to provide information about, and access to, nuclear fuel cycle activities beyond their traditional safeguards reporting requirements. As part of the U.S. AP Implementation Act and Senate Resolution of Ratification, the Administration is required to report annually to Congress onmore » measures taken to achieve the adoption of the AP in non-nuclear weapon states, as well as assistance to the IAEA to promote the effective implementation of APs in those states. A key U.S. effort in this area is being managed by the International Nuclear Safeguards and Engagement Program (INSEP) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Through new and existing bilateral cooperation agreements, INSEP has initiated technical assistance projects for AP implementation with selected non-weapon states. States with which INSEP is currently cooperating include Vietnam and Thailand, with Indonesia, Algeria, Morocco, and other countries as possible future collaborators in the area of AP implementation. The INSEP collaborative model begins with a joint assessment with our partners to identify specific needs they may have regarding entering the AP into force and any impediments to successful implementation. An action plan is then developed detailing and prioritizing the necessary joint activities. Such assistance may include: advice on developing legal frameworks and regulatory documents; workshops to promote understanding of AP requirements; training to determine possible declarable activities; assistance in developing a system to collect and submit declarations; performing industry outreach to raise awareness; guidance for reporting export and manufacturing of “especially designed or prepared” equipment listed in AP Annex I/Annex II; and lastly, developing indigenous capabilities to sustain AP implementation. INSEP also coordinates with the IAEA to ensure the harmonization of the assistance provided by DOE and the IAEA. This paper describes current efforts and future plans for AP international implementation support.« less

Trade and investment liberalization, food systems change and highly processed food consumption: a natural experiment contrasting the soft-drink markets of Peru and Bolivia.

PubMed

Baker, Phillip; Friel, Sharon; Schram, Ashley; Labonte, Ron

2016-06-02

Free trade agreements (FTAs) can affect food environments and non-communicable disease risks through altering the availability of highly-processed foods. Few studies have quantified such effects. Using a natural experiment this paper quantifies changes in Peru's soft-drink market before/after entry into the US-Peru FTA, compared with Bolivia, a county with no such agreement. Difference-in-difference models were used to test for between country differences in the rate of per capita foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, soft-drink imports, the volumes of various soft-drinks sold, and the volumes of sugar from soft-drinks before/after FTA ratification (2006) and enforcement (2009). In Peru average per capita FDI-inflows rose from US$103.11 in the pre-ratification period to US$269.79 post-ratification, with little change in Bolivia. This corresponded with a 122 % increase in Peruvian soft-drink production. There was a significant between-country difference in FDI-inflows pre-/post-ratification (DID:1.07, 95 % CI:0.19-1.96; p = 0.01). Despite little difference in total per capita soft-drink sales volumes there was a significant between-country difference in per capita sugar from soft-drinks pre-/post enforcement (DID:-0.99, 95 % CI: -1.91-0.06; p = 0.03) with stagnated growth in Peru and continued growth in Bolivia. This resulted from stagnated sugar sweetened carbonates growth and increased bottled water, juice and sports & energy drinks growth in Peru, with continued carbonates growth in Bolivia. There was a significant between-country difference in per capita carbonates (DID: -1.44, 95 % CI: -2.52-0.36, p = 0.01) and bottled water (DID:0.63; 95 % CI: -0.01-1.26; p = 0.04) sales volumes. The FTA may have resulted in increased FDI-inflows and soft-drink production and also contributed to the diversification of soft drinks produced and sold in Peru with some positive (stagnated carbonates and increased bottled water) and some negative (increased juice and sports & energy drinks) implications for nutrition. These changes were not evident in Bolivia. These results should be interpreted cautiously given the study design limitations.

The South China Sea: Every Nation for Itself

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-23

all South American. Prior to 1950, Argentina, Chile, Peru , and Ecuador all extended their boundaries either to the continental shelf or to a...los/convention_agreements/convention_historical_perspective.htme (accessed September 18, 2012). 15 “ Chronological Lists of Ratifications Of

48 CFR 801.602-3 - Ratification of unauthorized commitments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... VETERANS AFFAIRS GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS ACQUISITION REGULATION SYSTEM Career Development... individual responsible for the unauthorized commitment. (2) The contracting officer will review the file and... approving authority determines that a legal review would be desirable, the approving authority will...

Implementing the 1989 United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child in sub-Saharan Africa: the overlooked socioeconomic and political dilemmas.

PubMed

Mulinge, Munyae M

2002-11-01

The aim of this article is to identify and profile some often overlooked socioeconomic and political factors that render the protection of the rights of the child, as guaranteed through the 1989 United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child, a distant dream in most African countries. It is argued that, in most African countries, there are other major impediments to the protection of the child's rights in addition to the frequently cited lack of adequate legislation and of political will. The paper is a review essay and utilizes existing literature from varied sources to advance its main arguments. It draws from such documents to profile the socioeconomic and political barriers to the protection of children's rights in Africa both at the family and at the national levels. CORE ARGUMENT: The ratification of the United Nation's 1989 Convention and the passing of supportive legislation by most state governments, has not resulted in major improvements in the well-being of children. This is as a result of prevailing socioeconomic and political conditions such as social transformations within the family unit, poverty, and rampant corruption. The emergence of HIV/AIDS, civil wars and armed conflicts is a major impediment to the protection of children's rights across most of Africa. The effective implementation of the 1989 United Nations' Convention by African governments requires more than the ratification of the Convention. Governments require the political will to implement its prescriptions by passing supportive legislation. To create the necessary enabling environments, equal emphasis should be placed on the eradication of poverty, corruption and disease; and to ending armed conflicts where they exist.

PROFILE: Environmental Impact Assessment Under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

PubMed

Ensminger; McCold; Webb

1999-07-01

/ Antarctica has been set aside by the international community for protection as a natural reserve and a place for scientific research. Through the Antarctic Treaty of 1961, the signing nations agreed to cooperate in protecting the antarctic environment, in conducting scientific studies, and in abstaining from the exercise of territorial claims. The 1991 signing of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (Protocol) by representatives of the 26 nations comprising the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties (Parties) significantly strengthened environmental protection measures for the continent. The Protocol required ratification by each of the governments individually prior to official implementation. The US government ratified the Protocol by passage of the Antarctic Science, Tourism, and Conservation Act of 1997. Japan completed the process by ratifying the Protocol on December 15, 1997. US government actions undertaken in Antarctica are subject to the requirements of both the Protocol and the US National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). There are differences in the scope and intent of the Protocol and NEPA; however, both require environmental impact assessment (EIA) as part of the planning process for proposed actions that have the potential for environmental impacts. In this paper we describe the two instruments and highlight key similarities and differences with particular attention to EIA. Through this comparison of the EIA requirements of NEPA and the Protocol, we show how the requirements of each can be used in concert to provide enhanced environmental protection for the antarctic environment. NEPA applies only to actions of the US government; therefore, because NEPA includes certain desirable attributes that have been refined and clarified through numerous court cases, and because the Protocol is just entering implementation internationally, some recommendations are made for strengthening the procedural requirements of the Protocol for activities undertaken by all Parties in Antarctica. The Protocol gives clear and strong guidance for protection of specific, valued antarctic environmental resources including intrinsic wilderness and aesthetic values, and the value of Antarctica as an area for scientific research. That guidance requires a higher standard of environmental protection for Antarctica than is required in other parts of the world. This paper shows that taken together NEPA and the Protocol call for closer examination of proposed actions and a more rigorous consideration of environmental impacts than either would alone. Three areas are identified where the EIA provisions of the Protocol could be strengthened to improve its effectiveness. First, the thresholds defined by the Protocol need to be clarified. Specifically, the meanings of the terms "minor" and "transitory" are not clear in the context of the Protocol. The use of "or" in the phrase "minor or transitory" further confuses the meaning. Second, cumulative impact assessment is called for by the Protocol but is not defined. A clear definition could reduce the chance that cumulative impacts would be given inadequate consideration. Finally, the public has limited opportunities to comment on or influence the preparation of initial or comprehensive environmental evaluations. Experience has shown that public input to environmental documents has a considerable influence on agency decision making and the quality of EIA that agencies perform.KEY WORDS: Environment; Impact assessment; Antarctica; NEPA; Protocol; Antarctic Treatyhttp://link.springer-ny.com/link/service/journals/00267/bibs/24n1p13.html

48 CFR 1201.602-3 - Ratification of unauthorized commitments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... procurement decisions shall be made only by Government officials having authority to carry out such acquisitions. Procurement decisions made by other than authorized personnel are contrary to Departmental policy and may be considered matters of serious misconduct on the part of the employee making an unauthorized...

43 CFR 3160.0-5 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS MANAGEMENT (3000) ONSHORE OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS Onshore Oil and Gas... authorization, approval, ratification or acceptance of the authorized officer and the loss of produced oil or... that authorizes exploration for, extraction of or removal of oil or gas. Lease site means any lands...

43 CFR 3160.0-5 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS MANAGEMENT (3000) ONSHORE OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS Onshore Oil and Gas... authorization, approval, ratification or acceptance of the authorized officer and the loss of produced oil or... that authorizes exploration for, extraction of or removal of oil or gas. Lease site means any lands...

43 CFR 3160.0-5 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS MANAGEMENT (3000) ONSHORE OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS Onshore Oil and Gas... authorization, approval, ratification or acceptance of the authorized officer and the loss of produced oil or... that authorizes exploration for, extraction of or removal of oil or gas. Lease site means any lands...

43 CFR 3160.0-5 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS MANAGEMENT (3000) ONSHORE OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS Onshore Oil and Gas... authorization, approval, ratification or acceptance of the authorized officer and the loss of produced oil or... that authorizes exploration for, extraction of or removal of oil or gas. Lease site means any lands...

Contesting the Constitution: The Constitutional Dialogues.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hilenski, Ferdinand Alexi

This historical dramatization, prepared for presentation at the 1985 Wyoming Chatauqua, contains three dialogues, set during the administration of President Thomas Jefferson and presenting the issues surrounding the drafting and ratification of the U.S. Constitution. The dialogues are designed to be presented in three segments to permit discussion…

76 FR 18292 - Notice of Actions Taken at March 10, 2011, Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-01

... certain water resources projects; (2) rescinded approval for ten water resources projects; and (3... at the business meeting: (1) Presentation on the Morrison Cove Water Resources Study; (2) hydrologic...) approval/ratification of contracts; (5) a demonstration of the Commission's web-based Water Resources...

48 CFR 1501.602-3 - Ratification of unauthorized commitments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

...) Paid Advertisements. (1) EPA is generally not authorized to ratify improperly ordered paid advertisements. The ratifying official, however, may determine payment is proper subject to the limitations in FAR 1.602-3(c) if the individual responsible for the unauthorized commitment acted in good faith to...

48 CFR 2901.602-3 - Ratification of unauthorized commitments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... preclude further unauthorized commitments (e.g., ethics, purchase card, or administrative procedures...) Steps to be followed Below the micro-purchase threshold Head of the Contracting Office 1 through 5 & 7... placed on notice by the contracting officer, in writing, that the purchase may be inappropriate because...

SELECTED AIR QUALITY TRENDS AND RECENT AIR POLLUTION INVESTIGATIONS IN THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER REGION

EPA Science Inventory

The thirteen journal articles in this issue deal with air quality indicators due, in part, to population growth, cross-border traffic, and economic expansion since ratification of NAFTA; regions covered span from Tijuana, Baja California to Brownsville, Texas. This introductio...

A Unified Taxonomic Approach to the Laboratory Assessment of Visionic Devices

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-09-01

the ratification stage with member nations. Marasco and Task 4 presented a large array of tests applicable to image intensification-based visionic...aircraft.” In print. 4. Marasco , P. L., and Task, H. L. 1999. “Optical characterization of wide field-of-view night vision devices,” in

15 CFR 310.1 - Background and purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Expositions (BIE) rules. The BIE is an international organization established by the Paris Convention of 1928... ratification of the Paris Convention by the U.S. Senate (114 Cong. Rec. 11012). 1 The BIE defines a General... detailed BIE classification criteria and regulations are contained in the Paris Convention of 1928, as...

19 CFR 201.34 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Definitions. 201.34 Section 201.34 Customs Duties... formal ratification thereof by vote at a Commission meeting. (3) Conference telephone calls among the... membership of the Commission with the sole purpose of determining whether or not to call a meeting at a date...

The Pupils Voice in Different Educational Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herz, Birgit; Haertel, Nora

2016-01-01

Since ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2009, joint "same goal" and "different goal" education of pupils with and without disabilities has become a key concern of any changes in German educational policy. The lively public discourse and the controversial debate among experts have…

Using Silence to "Pass": Embodiment and Interactional Categorization in a Diasporic Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wagner, Lauren

2015-01-01

This article posits that "passing" is a manipulation of ambiguously embodied characteristics, linguistic practice, and ratification by other speakers. I explore discourses and practices of "passing" by post-migrant generation, diasporically-resident Moroccans who seek to be unmarked by migration when bargaining in Moroccan…

76 FR 5609 - Government in the Sunshine Act Meeting Notice

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-01

... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [USITC SE-11-002] Government in the Sunshine Act Meeting Notice AGENCY HOLDING THE MEETING: United States International Trade Commission. TIME AND DATE: February 9, 2011.... Ratification List. 4. Vote in Inv. Nos. 731-TA-1071 and 1072 (Review)(Magnesium from China and Russia). The...

Constitutionalism and Republicanism in the American Founding: 1776-1787.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dry, Murray

1986-01-01

Illustrates the development of constitutionalism and republicanism from 1776 to 1787. Discusses the Declaration of Independence, arguments leading up to the Revolution, framing of the Constitution based on compromise, and opposing views of the ratification debate, all of which reveal disagreements over the precise meaning of republicanism. (TRS)

A Course on the Constitution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Thomas E.; Viator, James E.

1990-01-01

A law school course about the Constitution's history and theory in the era of its framers is described. The course explores their learning, ideas, and vision and examines the document's intellectual background, writing and ratification processes, major issues and alternatives confronted, and ideas about its function as a form of government. (MSE)

19 CFR 12.104b - State Parties to the Convention.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

..., acceptance, accession or succession, the date of such deposit and the date of entry into force for each State...: Ratification (R); Acceptance (Ac); Accession (A); Succession (S). Notes: 1. The Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Georgia, and the Republic of Tadjikistan each deposited a notification of succession in which...

19 CFR 12.104b - State Parties to the Convention.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

..., acceptance, accession or succession, the date of such deposit and the date of entry into force for each State...: Ratification (R); Acceptance (Ac); Accession (A); Succession (S). Notes: 1. The Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Georgia, and the Republic of Tadjikistan each deposited a notification of succession in which...

19 CFR 12.104b - State Parties to the Convention.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

..., acceptance, accession or succession, the date of such deposit and the date of entry into force for each State...: Ratification (R); Acceptance (Ac); Accession (A); Succession (S). Notes: 1. The Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Georgia, and the Republic of Tadjikistan each deposited a notification of succession in which...

Summit for the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Mobilizing Communities for Ratification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Nancy

2006-01-01

In 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a comprehensive international children's rights treaty that addresses children's civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. The CRC sets goals and standards that promote children's rights, thereby strengthening governmental initiatives to…

Why Connecticut Sued the Federal Government over No Child Left Behind

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blumenthal, Richard

2006-01-01

In April 2005, Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal filed the first lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education over the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In this essay, Attorney General Blumenthal presents Connecticut's reasons for legally challenging NCLB. He argues that prior to ratification of the act, Connecticut had been…

25 CFR 81.7 - Adoption, ratification, or revocation by majority vote.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... vote. Except as it may be further limited by this part, a constitution and bylaws, amendments thereto... constitution provides otherwise. The names of persons appearing on the registration list who have not reached... constitution or charter provides otherwise, none of the actions cited in this section shall become effective...

25 CFR 81.5 - Request to call election.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... election to adopt a constitution and bylaws or to revoke a constitution and bylaws, upon a request from the tribal government. (b) The Secretary shall authorize the calling of an election to adopt a constitution... ratification, however, shall be valid unless the tribe has a constitution adopted and approved pursuant to the...

75 FR 21659 - Sunshine Act Meeting Notice

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-26

.... Matters to be considered: 1. Agenda for future meetings: None. 2. Minutes. 3. Ratification List. 4. Inv. Nos. 701-TA-437 and 731-TA-1060-1061 (Review) (Carbazole Violet Pigment 23 from China and India... Commission. William R. Bishop, Hearings and Meetings Coordinator. [FR Doc. 2010-9770 Filed 4-22-10; 4:15 pm...

Student Voice: An Emerging Discourse in Irish Education Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fleming, Domnall

2015-01-01

In positioning student voice within the Irish education policy discourse it is imperative that this emergent and complex concept is explored and theorized in the context of its definition and motivation. Student voice can then be positioned and critiqued as it emerged within Irish education policy primarily following Ireland's ratification of the…

Political Leadership: Six Lessons from the Founding Period.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Rourke, Timothy

1994-01-01

Contends that much of the controversy of contemporary U.S. politics is a replay of the constitutional drama that occurred more than 200 years ago. Maintains that the roles of James Madison and Virginia in the writing and ratification of the U.S. Constitution provide six lessons for teachers and students. (CFR)

Rights of the Child in Burundi.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feller, Markus

This report to the United Nations (U.N.) Committee on the Rights of the Child contains observations of the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) concerning the application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by Burundi. The report is presented in seven parts. Part 1 outlines preliminary observations regarding Burundi's ratification of…

Protecting indigenous rights. Guatemala.

PubMed

1996-01-01

Guatemala's recent ratification of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention regarding indigenous and tribal peoples (1989, No. 169) represents a commitment to guarantee the rights of the country's majority Mayan population. Ratifying governments are obligated to respect the traditional values and land rights of tribal and indigenous peoples and to consult with them on any decisions affecting their economic or social development. Ratification of this Convention was a key element in an eight-part UN-sponsored negotiation aimed at ending the civil war in Guatemala. Efforts are underway to promote dialogue between organized civil society and government. Negotiations in May 1996, conducted with ILO assistance, resulted in a socioeconomic agreement under which Guatemala will increase social investment in education, undertake agrarian reform, and institute tripartite consultation on all major social and economic issues. However, two key issues in the peace negotiations--the role of the army in civil society and constitutional reform--remain unresolved. The final global peace accord is expected to be signed in September 1996. UN organizations are already working to mobilize international support for transforming these agreements into political and social realities for the Guatemalan people.

The Tasman Spirit oil spill: implications for regulatory change in Pakistan.

PubMed

Mian, Saima; Bennett, Suzan

2009-07-01

An oil spill in July 2003 from the tanker Tasman Spirit attracted considerable public and media attention in Pakistan. This paper focuses on the experience of a developing country such as Pakistan in dealing with a major oil spill and its impact on bringing about change in the national regulatory framework. A major outcome has been the ratification of the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1992, which came into force in March 2006 in Pakistan. The convention provides a compensation mechanism for victims incurring oil pollution damages from maritime casualties involving oil laden ships. Several additional changes are still required to improve the country's ability to cope with marine oil spills. These include the development of a comprehensive domestic regulatory framework, implementation of an effective contingency plan, and capacity building of all relevant agencies.

Improving Capabilities for Irregular Warfare. Volume 2. Capabilities Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-08-01

from a build- ing. CPT Jon E. Tellier , USA, “The Battle for Hue.” Infantry (July–August 1995): p. 24. However, the US ratification in 1997 of the...Jane’s International Defense Review (1 February 2006). Tellier , Jon E. “The Battle for Hue.” Infantry (July–August 1995): pp. 21–26. Thomas, Timothy L

Rhetorical Strategies in Engineering Research Articles and Research Theses: Advanced Academic Literacy and Relations of Power

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koutsantoni, Dimitra

2006-01-01

Research articles and research theses constitute two key genres used by scientific communities for the dissemination and ratification of knowledge. Both genres are produced at advanced stages of individuals' enculturation in disciplinary communities present original research aim to persuade the academic community to accept new knowledge claims,…

50 CFR 259.33 - Constructive deposits and withdrawals; ratification of withdrawals (as qualified) made without...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... year is designated “Period (aa)”; the period between the end of a party's tax year and the party's tax...). Constructive deposits and withdrawals shall be permissible only during the Period (aa) during which a written... Period (aa), if any, which occurs before the Secretary executes the Interim CCF Agreement previously...

50 CFR 259.33 - Constructive deposits and withdrawals; ratification of withdrawals (as qualified) made without...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... year is designated “Period (aa)”; the period between the end of a party's tax year and the party's tax...). Constructive deposits and withdrawals shall be permissible only during the Period (aa) during which a written... Period (aa), if any, which occurs before the Secretary executes the Interim CCF Agreement previously...

50 CFR 259.33 - Constructive deposits and withdrawals; ratification of withdrawals (as qualified) made without...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... year is designated “Period (aa)”; the period between the end of a party's tax year and the party's tax...). Constructive deposits and withdrawals shall be permissible only during the Period (aa) during which a written... Period (aa), if any, which occurs before the Secretary executes the Interim CCF Agreement previously...

50 CFR 259.33 - Constructive deposits and withdrawals; ratification of withdrawals (as qualified) made without...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... year is designated “Period (aa)”; the period between the end of a party's tax year and the party's tax...). Constructive deposits and withdrawals shall be permissible only during the Period (aa) during which a written... Period (aa), if any, which occurs before the Secretary executes the Interim CCF Agreement previously...

CWC Industry Outreach III: - CWC Ratification, Implementation, Compliance and Verification (CWC Video). Volume 1. Main Report.

DTIC Science & Technology

1995-08-03

asked whether the scheduled chemicals will be assigned individual ECCNs . They were interested in whether the normal trade license applications will be...the Australia Group? B-14 AC93MC1002 Has an effort been made or is one planned to coordinate the.trade requirements on these chemicals with the ECCNs

CWC Industry Outreach III: Chemical Weapons Convention Ratification, Implementation, Compliance and Verification (CWC Video). Volume 2. Annexes.

DTIC Science & Technology

1995-08-01

7515 (818) 791-8805 (FAX) (415) 742-7540 (FAX) CHEVRON CORPORATION HUISH DETERGENTS, INC. CHARLOTTE R. FARBER DON GOLLADAY 225 BUSH STREET P.O. BOX 25057...USA) TEXAS INSTRUMENTS KENT BOSSART ZAK KARAMALLY 1701 PENNSYLVANIA AVE., NW #500 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS WASHINGTON, DC 20006 ZAK KARAMALLY 202-861-0668 P

Boycott as a Persuasive Tactic in Attempting to Ratify E. R. A.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larson, Charles U.

The Speech Communication Association's (SCA) decision to participate in a boycott of convention facilities to press for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has been ineffective (not a single state has ratified the ERA since the inception of the boycott) and may be counterproductive. In Illinois, the boycott was aimed primarily at the…

The United States Constitution: A Non-Trivial Pursuit. Fifty-Three Radio Scripts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mead, Walter B.

These 53 radio scripts present the history of the founding and ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Each script is designed to fit within a 2 to 2-1/2 minute time-frame. The titles are: "Introduction to Series" (Promotional Segment); "Did You Know: Our Present Constitution Is Our Second Constitution?"; "The First…

Recent Progress and Future Challenges in Disability Student Services in Japan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kondo, Takeo; Takahashi, Tomone; Shirasawa, Mayumi

2015-01-01

The Japanese government passed an anti-discrimination law, the Act on the Elimination of Disability Discrimination, in June 2013 (to be enforced April 2016) and ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in January 2014. Prior to ratification of the CRPD, the Japanese government had begun to construct an inclusive…

Congressional Oversight and Related Issues Concerning the Prospective Security Agreement Between the United States and Iraq

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-02-26

discussion, see W. STULL HOLT, TREATIES DEFEATED BY THE SENATE 212-229 (1933) (discussing events leading to the ratification of the 1907 treaty with the...U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Thai Foreign Minister Thanat Khoman issued a joint declaration in which Secretary Rusk expressed “the firm

3 CFR 8766 - Proclamation 8766 of December 8, 2011. Bill of Rights Day, 2011

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Proclamation On December 15, 1791, the United States adopted the Bill of Rights, enshrining in our Constitution... promise of enumerated rights enabled the ratification of the Constitution without fear that a more... vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim December 15, 2011...

The Social Status of Children with Disabilities and Their Families as Determined by Census Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tyndik, A. O.; Vasin, S. A.

2016-01-01

Russia's ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has necessitated that regular monitoring studies of the social situation of people with disabilities and families with disabled members be conducted. These studies have exacerbated the issue of obtaining accessible data that is suitable for these purposes.…

Teaching Tobacco Cessation Skills to Uruguayan Physicians Using Information and Communication Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Llambi, Laura; Esteves, Elba; Martinez, Elisa; Forster, Thais; Garcia, Sofia; Miranda, Natalia; Arredondo, Antonio Lopez; Margolis, Alvaro

2011-01-01

Introduction: Since 2004, with the ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Uruguay has implemented a wide range of legal restrictions designed to reduce the devastating impacts of tobacco. This legal process generated an increase in demand for tobacco cessation treatment, which led to the need to train a large number of…

50 CFR 259.33 - Constructive deposits and withdrawals; ratification of withdrawals (as qualified) made without...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... year is designated “Period (aa)”; the period between the end of a party's tax year and the party's tax...). Constructive deposits and withdrawals shall be permissible only during the Period (aa) during which a written... Period (aa), if any, which occurs before the Secretary executes the Interim CCF Agreement previously...

The 1897 Petition against the Annexation of Hawaii. Teaching with Documents.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC.

In 1893 the last monarch of Hawaii, Queen Lili'uokalani, was overthrown by a party of U.S. businessmen, who then imposed a provisional government. Soon after, U.S. President Benjamin Harrison submitted a treaty to annex the Hawaiian Islands to the U.S. Senate for ratification. In 1897, the treaty effort was blocked when the Hawaiian Patriotic…

Inspection and Quality Assurance in Government Contracts.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-01

of Defective Performance . . . . . . . . .. 130 Estoppel Generally . . . . . ... 132 The Government Duty to Speak . . . .. 136 A Government Agent...of ratification of agreements or escaping the absence of inspector authority 62 under the changes clause to order changes. Estoppel Generally Once one...define the rationale for a result favoring the contractor in these cases, the courts and boards are really applying the equitable doctrine of estoppel .6

Toward the Development of an Interdisciplinary Information Assurance Curriculum: Knowledge Domains and Skill Sets Required of Information Assurance Professionals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cegielski, Casey G.

2008-01-01

Since the ratification of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, both publicly traded companies and their respective financial statement auditors have struggled to comply with the requirements of the legislation. Utilizing three individual Delphi studies, separately, I surveyed partners, managers, and staff associates in the United States from each of…

"Is No Child Left Behind Effective For All Students?" Parents Don't Think So

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Randolph, Kelli; Wilson-Younger, Dylinda

2012-01-01

Since its ratification (NCLB) has received both praise and criticism from educators and parents. The No Child Left Behind Act is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that was passed in 1965. The purpose of this article is to discuss the pros & cons of "No Child Left Behind" and the core requirements for its…

A resolution recognizing the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the Treaty of Mutual Security and Cooperation with Japan, and affirming support for the United States-Japan security alliance and relationship.

THOMAS, 111th Congress

Sen. Webb, Jim [D-VA

2010-06-23

Senate - 06/29/2010 Resolution agreed to in Senate without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent. (All Actions) Tracker: This bill has the status Agreed to in SenateHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

Debate on Ratification. Eighth Grade Lesson. Schools of California Online Resources for Education (SCORE): Connecting California's Classrooms to the World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulder, Janet

Students play the roles of delegates to the U.S. Constitutional convention in this grade 8 interdisciplinary history and language arts unit. After reviewing the activities of the men involved in the convention (Patrick Henry, George Mason, Luther Martin, Richard Henry Lee, John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton), participants prepare…

Children's Rights and Youth Justice: 20 Years of No Progress

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Roger

2010-01-01

The adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989 and its ratification by the UK government two years later came at a time of considerable progress in youth justice. The Convention itself set clear standards of treatment, in terms of both processes and disposals, which appeared at the time to provide positive…

Out of the Communist Frying Pan and into the EU Fire? Exploring the Case of Kashubian

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nestor, Niamh; Hickey, Tina

2009-01-01

A language currently at the nexus of change is Kashubian (in Polish: "kaszubski"), a West Slavic language spoken in northern Poland in the province of Pomerania. Termed a "regional language" by the Polish government in preparation for the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (signed in 2003…

32 CFR 151.6 - Resolution of ratification, with reservations, as agreed to by the Senate on July 15, 1953.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... senior U.S. military representative in the receiving State will attend the trial of any such person by... Defense OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE REGULATIONS PERTAINING TO MILITARY JUSTICE STATUS OF FORCES..., or alters the right of the United States of America to safeguard its own security by excluding or...

32 CFR 151.6 - Resolution of ratification, with reservations, as agreed to by the Senate on July 15, 1953.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... senior U.S. military representative in the receiving State will attend the trial of any such person by... Defense OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE REGULATIONS PERTAINING TO MILITARY JUSTICE STATUS OF FORCES..., or alters the right of the United States of America to safeguard its own security by excluding or...

32 CFR 151.6 - Resolution of ratification, with reservations, as agreed to by the Senate on July 15, 1953.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... senior U.S. military representative in the receiving State will attend the trial of any such person by... Defense OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE REGULATIONS PERTAINING TO MILITARY JUSTICE STATUS OF FORCES..., or alters the right of the United States of America to safeguard its own security by excluding or...

32 CFR 151.6 - Resolution of ratification, with reservations, as agreed to by the Senate on July 15, 1953.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... senior U.S. military representative in the receiving State will attend the trial of any such person by... Defense OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE REGULATIONS PERTAINING TO MILITARY JUSTICE STATUS OF FORCES..., or alters the right of the United States of America to safeguard its own security by excluding or...

32 CFR 151.6 - Resolution of ratification, with reservations, as agreed to by the Senate on July 15, 1953.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... senior U.S. military representative in the receiving State will attend the trial of any such person by... Defense OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE REGULATIONS PERTAINING TO MILITARY JUSTICE STATUS OF FORCES..., or alters the right of the United States of America to safeguard its own security by excluding or...

Rough Journal Page Documenting Ratification and Final Page of the Treaty of Paris, 1783

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Potter, Lee Ann

2008-01-01

The 1783 Treaty of Paris formally ended the American Revolution and established the United States as an independent and sovereign nation. In words reminiscent of those in the resolution presented by Richard Henry Lee to Congress in June 1776, and later included in the Declaration of Independence, Article I of the treaty stated that the king now…

FCTC followed by accelerated implementation of tobacco advertising bans.

PubMed

Hiilamo, Heikki; Glantz, Stanton

2017-07-01

We sought to evaluate changes in countries' enacting advertising bans after the effect of ratifying the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). We compared adoption of advertising bans on five areas (TV and radio, print media, billboards, point-of-sale, sponsorship) in countries that did versus did not ratify the FCTC, accounting for years since the ratification of the Convention. On average, passage of complete advertising bans accelerated after FCTC ratification. The development was strongest among lower middle-income countries. Lack of state capacity was associated with lower likelihood of countries implementing complete advertising bans. Implementation of complete advertising bans slowed after 2007. Implementation of FCTC Article 13 was followed by increased progress towards complete advertising bans, but progress is incomplete, especially among low-income countries. Low-income countries need comprehensive support to implement FCTC as part of a broad effort to reinvigorate progress on global implementation of the FCTC. Enforcing complete bans requires constant monitoring and attacking of tobacco industry efforts to circumvent them. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Optimisation thermique de moules d'injection construits par des processus génératifs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boillat, E.; Glardon, R.; Paraschivescu, D.

2002-12-01

Une des potentialités les plus remarquables des procédés de production génératifs, comme le frittage sélectif par laser, est leur capacité à fabriquer des moules pour l'injection plastique équipés directement de canaux de refroidissement conformes, parfaitement adaptés aux empreintes Pour que l'industrie de l'injection puisse tirer pleinement parti de cette nouvelle opportunité, il est nécessaire de mettre à la disposition des moulistes des logiciels de simulation capables d'évaluer les gains de productivité et de qualité réalisables avec des systèmes de refroidissement mieux adaptés. Ces logiciels devraient aussi être capables, le cas échéant, de concevoir le système de refroidissement optimal dans des situations où l'empreinte d'injection est complexe. Devant le manque d'outils disponibles dans ce domaine, le but de cet article est de proposer un modèle simple de moules d'injection. Ce modèle permet de comparer différentes stratégies de refroidissement et peut être couplé avec un algorithme d'optimisation.

Sexual Abuse in Cameroon: A Four-Year-Old Girl Victim of Rape in Buea Case Study.

PubMed

Chishugi, John; Franke, Trixy

2016-01-01

A young girl was brought to the emergency unit after suffering sexual abuse by an older male. Additional abuses against women and girls include physical beating, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, breast ironing, widow's rites, psychological abuse, and discrimination in education, finance, employment, and legal access. Cameroon has adopted strategies aimed at eliminating violence against women, including ratification of international policies, penal codes, and support of local and international efforts that promote women; however, many of the laws remain in name only and are rarely enforced, given women's lack of financial access to quality lawyers and an unsympathetic male-dominated police force. Underreporting and culturally accepted abuses remain a challenge, too, as the country seeks to understand the extent of abuses and how to effectively fight against them. A complete paradigm shift in cultural attitude toward the female gender is required for abuses to cease.

Child abuse and neglect in Turkey: professional, governmental and non-governmental achievements in improving the national child protection system.

PubMed

Akco, Seda; Dagli, Tolga; Inanici, Mehmet Akif; Kaynak, Hatice; Oral, Resmiye; Sahin, Figen; Sofuoglu, Zeynep; Ulukol, Betul

2013-11-01

Since ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1995, significant efforts were made in Turkey to improve protection of children from abuse and neglect. The government took steps to amend relevant laws. Several state departments recognized the need for professional in-service training of relevant governmental agency staff. University hospitals established numerous hospital-based multidisciplinary child protection centres. The government established an Interministerial Higher Council, which has been overseeing the foundation of 13 child advocacy centres for a multidisciplinary and interagency response to child sexual abuse. In addition to undertaking research, non-governmental organizations contributed to this process by instituting professional and public education. These ground-breaking developments in the last decade give promise of even further improvement in the national child protection system from investigative, child protective and rehabilitative perspectives.

Global Monitoring of the CTBT: Progress, Capabilities and Plans (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zerbo, L.

2013-12-01

The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), established in 1996, is tasked with building up the verification regime of the CTBT. The regime includes a global system for monitoring the earth, the oceans and the atmosphere for nuclear tests, and an on-site inspection (OSI) capability. More than 80% of the 337 facilities of the International Monitoring System (IMS) have been installed and are sending data to the International Data Centre (IDC) in Vienna, Austria for processing. These IMS data along with IDC processed and reviewed products are available to all States that have signed the Treaty. Concurrent with the build-up of the global monitoring networks, near-field geophysical methods are being developed and tested for OSIs. The monitoring system is currently operating in a provisional mode, as the Treaty has not yet entered into force. Progress in installing and operating the IMS and the IDC and in building up an OSI capability will be described. The capabilities of the monitoring networks have progressively improved as stations are added to the IMS and IDC processing techniques refined. Detection thresholds for seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound and radionuclide events have been measured and in general are equal to or lower than the predictions used during the Treaty negotiations. The measurements have led to improved models and tools that allow more accurate predictions of future capabilities and network performance under any configuration. Unplanned tests of the monitoring network occurred when the DPRK announced nuclear tests in 2006, 2009, and 2013. All three tests were well above the detection threshold and easily detected and located by the seismic monitoring network. In addition, noble gas consistent with the nuclear tests in 2006 and 2013 (according to atmospheric transport models) was detected by stations in the network. On-site inspections of these tests were not conducted as the Treaty has not entered into force. In order to achieve a credible and trustworthy Verification System, increased focus is being put on the development of OSI operational capabilities while operating and sustaining the existing monitoring system, increasing the data availability and quality, and completing the remaining facilities of the IMS. Furthermore, as mandated by the Treaty, the CTBTO also seeks to continuously improve its technologies and methods through interaction with the scientific community. Workshops and scientific conferences such as the CTBT Science and Technology Conference series provide venues for exchanging ideas, and mechanisms have been developed for sharing IMS data with researchers who are developing and testing new and innovative methods pertinent to the verification regime. While progress is steady on building up the verification regime, there is also progress in gaining entry into force of the Treaty, which requires the signatures and ratifications of the DPRK, India and Pakistan; it also requires the ratifications of China, Egypt, Iran, Israel and the United States. Thirty-six other States, whose signatures and ratifications are needed for entry into force have already done so.

The Army Lawyer

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-07-01

Ratification, Implementation of Existing Conventions, U.N. Doc. SG/SM/799 (Oct. 22, 2001). 161 Thierry Tardy , The Inherent Difficulties of...Barbary Coast;32 pacified the Western Frontier;33 fought rebels in the Philippines ;34 conducted constabulary missions in Cuba, Panama, and Nicaragua;35...34 BRIAN MCALLISTER LINN, THE U.S. ARMY AND COUNTERINSURGENCY IN THE PHILIPPINE WAR 1899-1902 (2000). 35 LESTER D. LANGELY, THE UNITED STATES AND

Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage through the Strengthening of National Capacities in Asia and the Pacific. 2011-2014 Project Completion Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Favis, Ricardo; Suvanatap, Montakarn

2015-01-01

The "Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage" was adopted by the General Conference in October 2003 and entered into force in 2006 after ratification by 30 Member States. To date there are 161 Member States, yet the States Parties to the Convention still need to appreciate better the concepts and mechanisms…

Impact of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Yemen.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beatty, Sharon; Croken, Barbara; al Hamdani, Abdul Hakim; Jibran, Fatima; al Makhlafi, Saed

Nearly a decade after ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), more information is needed about how it is being used to advance children's rights. The Yemen CRC Impact Study is part of the International CRC Impact Study, a project of Radda Barnen/Swedish Save the Children. The study's focus is on how and whether the Yemeni…

Self Reported Awareness of Child Maltreatment among School Professionals in Saudi Arabia: Impact of CRC Ratification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

AlBuhairan, Fadia S.; Inam, Sarah S.; AlEissa, Majid A.; Noor, Ismail K.; Almuneef, Maha A.

2011-01-01

Objectives: The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was ratified by Saudi Arabia 15 years ago; yet addressing the issue of child maltreatment only began in more recent years. School professionals play a significant role in children's lives, as they spend a great deal of time with them and are hence essential to protecting and identifying…

3 CFR - Delegation of Reporting Functions Specified in Section 1045 of the National Defense Authorization...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 3 The President 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Delegation of Reporting Functions Specified in Section 1045 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, and Condition 9 of the Resolution of Advice and Consent to Ratification of the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on the Measures for the...

International Human Rights to Early Intervention for Infants and Young Children with Disabilities: Tools for Global Advocacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Sharan E.; Guralnick, Michael J.

2012-01-01

With almost universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the growing number of States Parties that have signed or ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the majority of countries in the world have now committed to implementing the human rights articulated in these treaties. In this article,…

Chapter 4. Summary of Spanish, Mexican, and early American exploration in the Borderlands

Treesearch

John H. Madsen

2006-01-01

The Hispanic period of Arizona and New Mexico spans roughly 320 years beginning in the mid-16th century with the arrival of Spanish explorers and culminating with the ratification of the Gadsden Purchase in June 1854. This paper provides an overview of exploration, settlement and land use within and adjacent to the Borderlands during this time. From a review of...

Towards Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities--And Why It Matters for Education of People with Disability in Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Innes, Graeme

2007-01-01

In this article, the author gives an overview of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights convention that sets out the fundamental human rights of people with disabilities. The Convention sets out general and specific obligations for…

Ratification vote on taxonomic proposals to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2016).

PubMed

Adams, Michael J; Lefkowitz, Elliot J; King, Andrew M Q; Harrach, Balázs; Harrison, Robert L; Knowles, Nick J; Kropinski, Andrew M; Krupovic, Mart; Kuhn, Jens H; Mushegian, Arcady R; Nibert, Max; Sabanadzovic, Sead; Sanfaçon, Hélène; Siddell, Stuart G; Simmonds, Peter; Varsani, Arvind; Zerbini, Francisco Murilo; Gorbalenya, Alexander E; Davison, Andrew J

2016-10-01

This article lists the changes to virus taxonomy approved and ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) in April 2016.Changes to virus taxonomy (the Universal Scheme of Virus Classification of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses [ICTV]) now take place annually and are the result of a multi-stage process. In accordance with the ICTV Statutes ( http://www.ictvonline.org/statutes.asp ), proposals submitted to the ICTV Executive Committee (EC) undergo a review process that involves input from the ICTV Study Groups (SGs) and Subcommittees (SCs), other interested virologists, and the EC. After final approval by the EC, proposals are then presented for ratification to the full ICTV membership by publication on an ICTV web site ( http://www.ictvonline.org/ ) followed by an electronic vote. The latest set of proposals approved by the EC was made available on the ICTV website by January 2016 ( https://talk.ictvonline.org/files/proposals/ ). A list of these proposals was then emailed on 28 March 2016 to the 148 members of ICTV, namely the EC Members, Life Members, ICTV Subcommittee Members (including the SG chairs) and ICTV National Representatives. Members were then requested to vote on whether to ratify the taxonomic proposals (voting closed on 29 April 2016).

The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in the Brazilian political agenda, 2003-2005.

PubMed

Teixeira, Luiz Antônio da Silva; Paiva, Carlos Henrique Assunção; Ferreira, Vanessa Nolasco

2017-09-21

This study analyses the development of a tobacco-control agenda in Brazil following the country's participation in the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC). This process started with the diplomatic negotiations for the participation of Brazil in the treaty, in 2003, and its ratification by the National Congress, in 2005, and was marked by substantial controversies between public health players, who are accountable for tobacco-control actions, and the high echelon of Brazilian diplomacy, emissaries of the tobacco industry, representatives of small tobacco farmers from the Southern region of the country, congress representatives, senators and ministers. The study is based on the contributions of John W. Kingdon on the development of an agenda for the formulation of public policies. It took into account secondary references, legislative and institutional sources from the 1995 to 2005 period. It concluded that the association of tobacco-related healthcare actions by technically skilled officials, the involvement of the high echelon of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (policy flow), the initiative for the establishment of the WHO-FCTC (problem flow), and the existence of a favorable environment in both, executive and legislative (political flow), opened a window of opportunity for WHO-FCTC ratification and its inclusion in the government decision agenda.

Japan’s Foreign Policy: Metamorphosis in Asia

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-03-01

States. Since, from the viewpoint of the United States, Japan has traditionally been considered essential to the defense of American interests in East Asia...to her effcrts to improve her people’s standard of living, but a sharp and stinging blow to her ecnomic viability — her very survival. It is not out...Security Treaty remains in force essentially as it appeared under initial ratification.) Some Japanese maintain that the initial intent of both

A comparison of the additional protocols of the five nuclear weapon states and the ensuing safeguards benefits to international nonproliferation efforts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Uribe, Eva C; Sandoval, M Analisa; Sandoval, Marisa N

2009-01-01

With the 6 January 2009 entry into force of the Additional Protocol by the United States of America, all five declared Nuclear Weapon States that are part of the Nonproliferation Treaty have signed, ratified, and put into force the Additional Protocol. This paper makes a comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of the five Additional Protocols in force by the five Nuclear Weapon States with respect to the benefits to international nonproliferation aims. This paper also documents the added safeguards burden to the five declared Nuclear Weapon States that these Additional Protocols put on the states with respect to accessmore » to their civilian nuclear programs and the hosting of complementary access activities as part of the Additional Protocol.« less

Relationship between urbanization and CO2 emissions depends on income level and policy.

PubMed

Ponce de Leon Barido, Diego; Marshall, Julian D

2014-04-01

We investigate empirically how national-level CO2 emissions are affected by urbanization and environmental policy. We use statistical modeling to explore panel data on annual CO2 emissions from 80 countries for the period 1983-2005. Random- and fixed-effects models indicate that, on the global average, the urbanization-emission elasticity value is 0.95 (i.e., a 1% increase in urbanization correlates with a 0.95% increase in emissions). Several regions display a statistically significant, positive elasticity for fixed- and random-effects models: lower-income Europe, India and the Sub-Continent, Latin America, and Africa. Using two proxies for environmental policy/outcomes (ratification status for the Kyoto Protocol; the Yale Environmental Performance Index), we find that in countries with stronger environmental policy/outcomes, urbanization has a more beneficial (or, a less negative) impact on emissions. Specifically, elasticity values are -1.1 (0.21) for higher-income (lower-income) countries with strong environmental policy, versus 0.65 (1.3) for higher-income (lower-income) countries with weak environmental policies. Our finding that the urbanization-emissions elasticity may depend on the strength of a country's environmental policy, not just marginal increases in income, is in contrast to the idea of universal urban scaling laws that can ignore local context. Most global population growth in the coming decades is expected to occur in urban areas of lower-income countries, which underscores the importance of these findings.

Science and society: protecting crop genetic diversity for food security: political, ethical and technical challenges.

PubMed

Esquinas-Alcázar, José

2005-12-01

Crop genetic diversity - which is crucial for feeding humanity, for the environment and for sustainable development - is being lost at an alarming rate. Given the enormous interdependence of countries and generations on this genetic diversity, this loss raises critical socio-economic, ethical and political questions. The recent ratification of a binding international treaty, and the development of powerful new technologies to conserve and use resources more effectively, have raised expectations that must now be fulfilled.

48 CFR 204.470 - U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. 204.470 Section 204.470 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEFENSE... Information Within Industry 204.470 U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. ...

48 CFR 204.470 - U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. 204.470 Section 204.470 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEFENSE... Information Within Industry 204.470 U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. ...

48 CFR 204.470 - U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. 204.470 Section 204.470 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEFENSE... Information Within Industry 204.470 U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. ...

48 CFR 204.470 - U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. 204.470 Section 204.470 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEFENSE... Information Within Industry 204.470 U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. ...

48 CFR 204.470 - U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. 204.470 Section 204.470 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEFENSE... Information Within Industry 204.470 U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. ...

15 CFR 781.2 - Purposes of the Additional Protocol and APR.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Trade (Continued) BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL... and less any information to which the U.S. Government applies the national security exclusion, is... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Purposes of the Additional Protocol...

Statement by Dr. Kathleen C. Bailey before the Senate Armed Services Committee

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bailey, K.C.

1994-08-16

This paper presents the personal views of the author on the subject of the proposed Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). She addresses here concerns about the national security issues which could result from ratification of this convention. She argues the convention alone is not likely to curtail production or availability of such items on the world market because of the relatively low cost. The treaty could thus put the country in a position less likely to protect itself, or adequately deal with such a threat.

Selected persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the Italian environment.

PubMed

Miniero, Roberto; De Felip, Elena; Magliuolo, Mariella; Ferri, Fabiola; Di Domenico, Alessandro

2005-01-01

The ratification of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is a departure point for several considerations on their presence in environmental matrices. In this paper, the Italian situation is presented with emphasis on the most toxic compounds--chemicals with dioxin-like toxic action, and the activity in the area of interest of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. Biotic, as well as abiotic matrices have been taken in consideration and, where possible, a comparation between their contamination levels with the levels reported on similar matrices by other European countries has been reported.

Signing of ESO-Poland Accession Agreement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2014-12-01

An agreement was signed by Professor Lena Kolarska-Bobińska, the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education, and the ESO Director General Tim de Zeeuw in Warsaw on 28 October 2014 that will lead to the country joining ESO. The signing of the agreement followed its unanimous approval by the ESO Council during an extraordinary meeting on 8 October 2014. Poland will be welcomed as a new Member State, following subsequent ratification of the accession agreement by the Polish Parliament. Tim de Zeeuw’s speech at this ceremony is reproduced below.

48 CFR 252.204-7010 - Requirement for Contractor To Notify DoD if the Contractor's Activities are Subject to Reporting...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. 252.204-7010 Section 252.204-7010 Federal Acquisition... Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. As prescribed in 204.470-3, use the following clause....-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol (JAN 2009) (a) If the Contractor is required to report...

48 CFR 252.204-7010 - Requirement for Contractor To Notify DoD if the Contractor's Activities are Subject to Reporting...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. 252.204-7010 Section 252.204-7010 Federal Acquisition... Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. As prescribed in 204.470-3, use the following clause....-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol (JAN 2009) (a) If the Contractor is required to report...

48 CFR 252.204-7010 - Requirement for Contractor to Notify DoD if the Contractor's Activities are Subject to Reporting...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. 252.204-7010 Section 252.204-7010 Federal Acquisition... Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. As prescribed in 204.470-3, use the following clause....-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol (JAN 2009) (a) If the Contractor is required to report...

48 CFR 252.204-7010 - Requirement for Contractor to Notify DoD if the Contractor's Activities are Subject to Reporting...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. 252.204-7010 Section 252.204-7010 Federal Acquisition... Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. As prescribed in 204.470-3, use the following clause....-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol (JAN 2009) (a) If the Contractor is required to report...

Development, implementation, and experimentation of parametric routing protocol for sensor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nassr, Matthew S.; Jun, Jangeun; Eidenbenz, Stephan J.; Frigo, Janette R.; Hansson, Anders A.; Mielke, Angela M.; Smith, Mark C.

2006-09-01

The development of a scalable and reliable routing protocol for sensor networks is traced from a theoretical beginning to positive simulation results to the end of verification experiments in large and heavily loaded networks. Design decisions and explanations as well as implementation hurdles are presented to give a complete picture of protocol development. Additional software and hardware is required to accurately test the performance of our protocol in field experiments. In addition, the developed protocol is tested in TinyOS on Mica2 motes against well-established routing protocols frequently used in sensor networks. Our protocol proves to outperform the standard (MINTRoute) and the trivial (Gossip) in a variety of different scenarios.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bunch, Kyle J.; Williams, Laura S.; Jones, Anthony M.

The 2010 ratification of the New START Treaty has been widely regarded as a noteworthy national security achievement for both the Obama administration and the Medvedev-Putin regime, but deeper cuts are envisioned under future arms control regimes. Future verification needs will include monitoring the storage of warhead components and fissile materials and verifying dismantlement of warheads, pits, secondaries, and other materials. From both the diplomatic and technical perspectives, verification under future arms control regimes will pose new challenges. Since acceptable verification technology must protect sensitive design information and attributes, non-nuclear non-sensitive signatures may provide a significant verification tool without themore » use of additional information barriers. The use of electromagnetic signatures to monitor nuclear material storage containers is a promising technology with the potential to fulfill these challenging requirements. Research performed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has demonstrated that low frequency electromagnetic signatures of sealed metallic containers can be used to confirm the presence of specific components on a “yes/no” basis without revealing classified information. Arms control inspectors might use this technique to verify the presence or absence of monitored items, including both nuclear and non-nuclear materials. Although additional research is needed to study signature aspects such as uniqueness and investigate container-specific scenarios, the technique potentially offers a rapid and cost-effective tool to verify reduction and dismantlement of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons.« less

Compliance issues raised by the United States' ratification and implementation of the education articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

PubMed

Adams, Christopher; Rubel, Jordana

2010-01-01

This article evaluates compliance issues the United States could face in ratifying the education provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The authors compare states parties' obligations under the education provisions of the CRC--as construed by the CRC committee--with federal and state education protections and programs in the United States. The authors conclude that the United States currently complies with most of the provisions and faces minimal risk in ratifying the remaining provisions.

US arms control obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1986-06-27

Article VI of the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligates the nuclear weapon states parties to the Treaty ''to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race, ... to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.'' The preamble to the NPT recalls the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty ''determination ... to achieve the discontinuance of ... explosions.'' These provisions are interpreted by a majority of the non-nuclear weapon states parties to the Treaty as an obligation of the nuclear weapon states parties tomore » the Treaty to pursue a comprehensive test ban (CTB). However, a review of the history of the NPT negotiations and US ratification proceedings makes clear that the NPT imposes no legal obligation on the US to pursue a CTB. The US did not make a one-to-one correspondence between Article VI and any specific arms control measure; to the contrary, the US argued successfully that such a connection (to any specific measure) would be pernicious to the attempt to achieve agreement on the NPT. This interpretation, which was sustained through the negotiations and the ratification proceedings, still reflects the limits of the legal obligations the US has accepted. But, in the absence of progress on other arms control measures, which would relieve the pressure for a CTB, the majority interpretation creates political difficulties for the US and could threaten the NPT regime in the future. These problems highlight the need for the US to better defend its compliance with Article VI and to develop a long-term strategy that will permit necessary testing while assuring the survival of the NPT regime in effective form.« less

United States' arms control obligations under the NonProliferation Treaty

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1986-06-27

Article VI of the 1986 Non-Proliferation Treaty obligates the nuclear weapon states party to the Treaty ''to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race, ...to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.'' The preamble to the NPT refers to the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty ''determination...to achieve the discontinuance of...explosions.'' These provisions are interpreted by many non-nuclear weapon states party to the NPT as an obligation of the nuclear weapon states party to the treaty to pursue a comprehensive test banmore » (CTB). However, a review of the history of the NPT negotiations and US ratification proceedings makes clear that Article VI imposes no legal obligation on the US to pursue a CTB. The United States did not make a one-to-one correspondence between Article VI and any specific arms control measure; to the contrary, the United States argued successfully that such a connection (to any specific measure) would be pernicious to the attempt to achieve agreement on the NPT. This interpretation held through the negotiations and ratification proceedings. However, a majority of NPT signatories assert that Article VI does indeed imply a commitment to a CTB. In the absence of progress on other arms control measures, which would relieve the pressure for a CTB, this interpretation creates a political problem for the US and could threaten the NPT regime in the future. These problems emphasize the need for the United States to more clearly explain its compliance with Article VI and to develop a long-term strategy that will permit necessary testing while assuring the survival of the NPT regime in effective form.« less

How Hugh Hampton Young's treatment of President Woodrow Wilson's urinary retention and urosepsis affected the resolution of World War I.

PubMed

Fogg, Ryan; Kutikov, Alexander; Uzzo, Robert G; Canter, Daniel

2011-09-01

President Woodrow Wilson was never able to gain ratification of the Treaty of Versailles, the peace accord to end World War I. Before he could convince the American people of the importance of ratification, Wilson suffered a stroke followed by life threatening urinary sepsis due to urinary retention, and was treated by the father of modern urology, Hugh Hampton Young. The effects of these health problems are examined in the context of their implications on international affairs. Biographical sources and primary documentation of Wilson's physicians were reviewed to determine the effect of Wilson's stroke on his voiding habits. Hugh Hampton Young's evaluation and decision making is examined in depth. In the fall of 1919 President Wilson was recovering from a stroke. Shortly after the stroke his preexisting voiding dysfunction progressed to urinary retention from which urinary sepsis developed. Hugh Hampton Young advised on Wilson's case and counseled patience over surgery. The President began voiding spontaneously and recovered from sepsis. The illness left him severely weakened and unable to mount an aggressive campaign to persuade the U.S. Senate of the importance of ratifying the Treaty of Versailles. His personal physician, Admiral Cary T. Grayson, stated that the President was mentally never the same after the sepsis. Wilson's voiding dysfunction contributed to his inability to win approval for the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations. As a result, the United States returned to a policy of isolationism and Europe plunged into 2 decades of upheaval, leading to World War II. Copyright © 2011 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Protocols — EDRN Public Portal

Cancer.gov

EDRN investigators protocols. The following is a list of the EDRN protocols that have been captured and curated. Additional information will be added as it is available. Contact information is provided as part of the detail for each protocol.

Finland Becomes Eleventh ESO Member State

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2004-07-01

Finland has become the eleventh member state of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) [1]. The formal accession procedure was carried through as planned and has now been completed. Following the signing of the corresponding Agreement earlier this year (ESO PR 02/04), acceptance by the Finnish Parliament and ratification by the Finnish President of the Agreement as well as the ESO Convention and the associated protocols in June [2] and the deposit of the instruments of accession today, Finland has now officially joined ESO. ESO warmly welcomes the new member country and its scientific community that is renowned for their expertise in many frontline areas. The related opportunities will contribute to strenghtening of pioneering research with the powerful facilities at ESO's observatories, to the benefit of Astronomy and Astrophysics as well as European science in general. ESO also looks forward to collaboration with the Finnish high-tech industry. For Finland, the membership in ESO is motivated by scientific and technological objectives as well as by the objective of improving the public understanding of science. The Finnish Government is committed to increasing the public research funding in order to improve the quality, impact and internationalisation of research. Membership in ESO offers unique facilities for astronomical research which would not otherwise be available for Finnish astronomers. Finland is also very interested in taking part in technological development projects in fields like ICT, optics and instrumentation. For young scientists and engineers, ESO is a challenging, international working and learning environment. Finland has already taken part in the educational programmes of ESO, and as a member this activity will be broadened and intensified. In Finland there are also several science journalists and a large community of amateur astronomers who will be very happy to take part in ESO's outreach activities.

Delay Tolerant Networking - Bundle Protocol Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

SeGui, John; Jenning, Esther

2006-01-01

In this paper, we report on the addition of MACHETE models needed to support DTN, namely: the Bundle Protocol (BP) model. To illustrate the useof MACHETE with the additional DTN model, we provide an example simulation to benchmark its performance. We demonstrate the use of the DTN protocol and discuss statistics gathered concerning the total time needed to simulate numerous bundle transmissions.

An Abbreviated Protocol for High-Risk Screening Breast MRI Saves Time and Resources.

PubMed

Harvey, Susan C; Di Carlo, Phillip A; Lee, Bonmyong; Obadina, Eniola; Sippo, Dorothy; Mullen, Lisa

2016-04-01

To review the ability of an abbreviated, high-risk, screening, breast MRI protocol to detect cancer and save resources. High-risk screening breast MR images were reviewed, from both an abbreviated protocol and a full diagnostic protocol. Differences in cancer detection, scanner utilization, interpretation times, and need for additional imaging were recorded in an integrated data form, and reviewed and compared. A total of 568 MRI cases were reviewed, with the abbreviated and full protocols. No difference was found in the number of cancers detected. Scan times were decreased by 18.8 minutes per case, for a total of 10,678 minutes (178 hours). Interpretation time, on average, was 1.55 minutes for the abbreviated protocol, compared with 6.43 minutes for the full protocol. Review of the full protocol led to a significant change in the final BI-RADS(®) assessment in 12 of 568 (2.1%) cases. Abbreviated MRI is as effective as full-protocol MRI for demonstration of cancers in the high-risk screening setting, with only 12 (2.1%) cases recommended for additional MRI evaluation. The efficiency and resource savings of an abbreviated protocol would be significant, and would allow for opportunities to provide MRI for additional patients, as well as improved radiologist time management and workflow, with the potential to add real-time MRI interpretation or double reading. Copyright © 2016 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An Abbreviated Protocol for High-Risk Screening Breast MRI Saves Time and Resources.

PubMed

Harvey, Susan C; Di Carlo, Phillip A; Lee, Bonmyong; Obadina, Eniola; Sippo, Dorothy; Mullen, Lisa

2016-11-01

To review the ability of an abbreviated, high-risk, screening, breast MRI protocol to detect cancer and save resources. High-risk screening breast MR images were reviewed, from both an abbreviated protocol and a full diagnostic protocol. Differences in cancer detection, scanner utilization, interpretation times, and need for additional imaging were recorded in an integrated data form, and reviewed and compared. A total of 568 MRI cases were reviewed, with the abbreviated and full protocols. No difference was found in the number of cancers detected. Scan times were decreased by 18.8 minutes per case, for a total of 10,678 minutes (178 hours). Interpretation time, on average, was 1.55 minutes for the abbreviated protocol, compared with 6.43 minutes for the full protocol. Review of the full protocol led to a significant change in the final BI-RADS ® assessment in 12 of 568 (2.1%) cases. Abbreviated MRI is as effective as full-protocol MRI for demonstration of cancers in the high-risk screening setting, with only 12 (2.1 %) cases recommended for additional MRI evaluation. The efficiency and resource savings of an abbreviated protocol would be significant, and would allow for opportunities to provide MRI for additional patients, as well as improved radiologist time management and workflow, with the potential to add real-time MRI interpretation or double reading. Copyright © 2016 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

China has raised the tax on cigarettes: what's next?

PubMed

Hu, Teh-Wei; Zhang, Xiulan; Zheng, Rong

2016-11-01

The Chinese government raised tobacco tax on 10th May 2015, 10 years after the ratification of the WHO Framework Convention on tobacco control. The increase in the resulting tax rate as a percentage of the retail price from 49% to 56% is still relatively low compared to the WHO-recommended benchmark, which is about 70% of the retail price. Therefore, ample room remains for the Chinese government to further increase the tax on cigarettes. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

How might the Trans-Pacific Partnership impact on the pharmaceutical sector in Vietnam?

PubMed

Binh, Nguyen Hoa; Anh, Pham Ngoc Kieu; Phuong, Nguyen Minh

2016-07-01

Ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will attract a large number of foreign drug companies in the coming years to Vietnam. It is anticipated to bring investment to Vietnam's pharmaceutical industries, lead to increased infrastructure and enable the use of more sophisticated technologies for the discovery, development and manufacture of drugs. However, with respect to pharmaceutical companies, which are producing generic drugs primarily, the availability of biologic will be reduced. Thus, the consequence is, an increase in drug cost resulting in difficulties for patients wishing to procure these drugs. This will be particularly detrimental for developing countries, such as Vietnam and Malaysia.

A comparison of sennosides-based bowel protocols with and without docusate in hospitalized patients with cancer.

PubMed

Hawley, Philippa Helen; Byeon, Jai Jun

2008-05-01

Constipation is a common and distressing condition in patients with cancer, especially those taking opioid analgesics. Many institutions prevent and treat constipation with titrated laxatives, which is known as a bowel protocol. An effective and well-tolerated bowel protocol is a very important component of cancer care, and there is little evidence on which to base selection of the most appropriate agents. This study compares a protocol of the stimulant laxative sennosides alone with a protocol of sennosides plus the stool softener docusate, in hospitalized patients at an oncology center. The docusate-containing protocol had an initial docusate-only step for patients not taking opioids, and four to six 100-mg capsules of docusate sodium in addition to the sennosides for the rest of the protocol. Thirty patients received the sennosides-only (S) protocol and 30 the sennosides plus docusate (DS) protocol. The efficacy and adverse effects of the protocols were monitored for 5-12 days. The two protocols were used sequentially, creating two cohorts, one on each protocol. Eighty percent of patients were taking oral opioids and 72% were admitted for symptom control/supportive care. Over a total of 488 days of observation it was found that the S protocol produced more bowel movements than the DS protocol, and in the symptom control/supportive care patients this difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). In the S group admitted for symptom control/supportive care 62.5% had a bowel movement more than 50% of days, as compared with 32% in those receiving the DS protocol. Fifty-seven percent of the DS group required additional interventions (lactulose, suppositories or enemas) compared to 40% in the S group. Cramps were reported equally by 3 (10%) patients in each group. Eight patients (27%) experienced diarrhea in the S group compared to 4 (13%) in the DS group. The addition of the initial docusate-only step and adding docusate 400-600 mg/d to the sennosides did not reduce bowel cramps, and was less effective in inducing laxation than the sennosides-only protocol. Further research into the appropriate use of docusate and into the details of bowel protocol design are required.

Apples to apples: the origin and magnitude of differences in asbestos cancer risk estimates derived using varying protocols.

PubMed

Berman, D Wayne

2011-08-01

Given that new protocols for assessing asbestos-related cancer risk have recently been published, questions arise concerning how they compare to the "IRIS" protocol currently used by regulators. The newest protocols incorporate findings from 20 additional years of literature. Thus, differences between the IRIS and newer Berman and Crump protocols are examined to evaluate whether these protocols can be reconciled. Risks estimated by applying these protocols to real exposure data from both laboratory and field studies are also compared to assess the relative health protectiveness of each protocol. The reliability of risks estimated using the two protocols are compared by evaluating the degree with which each potentially reproduces the known epidemiology study risks. Results indicate that the IRIS and Berman and Crump protocols can be reconciled; while environment-specific variation within fiber type is apparently due primarily to size effects (not addressed by IRIS), the 10-fold (average) difference between amphibole asbestos risks estimated using each protocol is attributable to an arbitrary selection of the lowest of available mesothelioma potency factors in the IRIS protocol. Thus, the IRIS protocol may substantially underestimate risk when exposure is primarily to amphibole asbestos. Moreover, while the Berman and Crump protocol is more reliable than the IRIS protocol overall (especially for predicting amphibole risk), evidence is presented suggesting a new fiber-size-related adjustment to the Berman and Crump protocol may ultimately succeed in reconciling the entire epidemiology database. However, additional data need to be developed before the performance of the adjusted protocol can be fully validated. © 2011 Society for Risk Analysis.

Password-only authenticated three-party key exchange proven secure against insider dictionary attacks.

PubMed

Nam, Junghyun; Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond; Paik, Juryon; Won, Dongho

2014-01-01

While a number of protocols for password-only authenticated key exchange (PAKE) in the 3-party setting have been proposed, it still remains a challenging task to prove the security of a 3-party PAKE protocol against insider dictionary attacks. To the best of our knowledge, there is no 3-party PAKE protocol that carries a formal proof, or even definition, of security against insider dictionary attacks. In this paper, we present the first 3-party PAKE protocol proven secure against both online and offline dictionary attacks as well as insider and outsider dictionary attacks. Our construct can be viewed as a protocol compiler that transforms any 2-party PAKE protocol into a 3-party PAKE protocol with 2 additional rounds of communication. We also present a simple and intuitive approach of formally modelling dictionary attacks in the password-only 3-party setting, which significantly reduces the complexity of proving the security of 3-party PAKE protocols against dictionary attacks. In addition, we investigate the security of the well-known 3-party PAKE protocol, called GPAKE, due to Abdalla et al. (2005, 2006), and demonstrate that the security of GPAKE against online dictionary attacks depends heavily on the composition of its two building blocks, namely a 2-party PAKE protocol and a 3-party key distribution protocol.

Development of Next Generation Energy Audit Protocols for the Rapid and Advanced Analysis of Building Energy Use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartley, Christopher Ahlvin

Current building energy auditing techniques are outdated and lack targeted, actionable information. These analyses only use one year's worth of monthly electricity and gas bills to define energy conservation and efficiency measures. These limited data sets cannot provide robust, directed energy reduction recommendations. The need is apparent for an overhaul of existing energy audit protocols to utilize all data that is available from the building's utility provider, installed energy management system (EMS), and sub-metering devices. This thesis analyzed the current state-of-the-art in energy audits, generated a next generation energy audit protocol, and conducted both audits types on four case study buildings to find out what additional information can be obtained from additional data sources and increased data gathering resolutions. Energy data from each case study building were collected using a variety of means including utility meters, whole building energy meters, EMS systems, and sub-metering devices. In addition to conducting an energy analysis for each case study building using the current and next generation energy audit protocols, two building energy models were created using the programs eQuest and EnergyPlus. The current and next generation energy audit protocol results were compared to one another upon completion. The results show that using the current audit protocols, only variations in season are apparent. Results from the developed next generation energy audit protocols show that in addition to seasonal variations, building heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) schedules, occupancy schedules, baseline and peak energy demand levels, and malfunctioning equipment can be found. This new protocol may also be used to quickly generate accurate building models because of the increased resolution that yields scheduling information. The developed next generation energy auditing protocol is scalable and can work for many building types across the United States, and perhaps the world.

The relevance of U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child for Child Health: a matter of equity and social justice.

PubMed

Kasper, Jennifer

2010-01-01

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a universally accepted tool to understand the social underpinnings of child health that medicine alone cannot address. Injustices plague U.S. society: Child poverty has been increasing since 2000, and the gap between the wealthiest and poorest is growing. Poverty is a toxic stress on child health and well-being. Three articles from the CRC help frame how to address this: nondiscrimination, the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health and access to health care, and the right to a standard of living adequate for complete development.

Intelligence, democracy, and international environmental commitment.

PubMed

Obydenkova, Anastassia; Salahodjaev, Raufhon

2016-05-01

This paper investigates the determinants of nations' commitment to environmental protection at the international level by focusing on the role of national intelligence and the level of democracy. The national intelligence is measured by nation's IQ scores. The findings based on a sample of 152 nations provide strong evidence that intelligence has statistically significant impact on ratification of international environmental agreements, and the countries with IQ 10-points above global average are 23% more likely to sign multilateral environmental agreements than others. The findings also demonstrate that it is the combination of high-level of intelligence of nations and democracy, that likely result in international environmental commitments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Distribution of neptunium and plutonium in New Mexico lichen samples ( Usnea arizonica) contaminated by atmospheric fallout

DOE PAGES

Oldham, Jr., Warren J.; Hanson, Susan K.; Lavelle, Kevin B.; ...

2015-08-30

In this study, the concentrations of 237Np, 239Pu and 240Pu were determined in lichen samples ( Usnea arizonica) that were collected from ten locations in New Mexico between 2011 and 2013 using isotope dilution inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ID-ICP-MS). The observed isotopic ratios for 237Np/ 239Pu and 240Pu/ 239Pu indicate trace contamination from global and regional fallout (e.g. Trinity test and atmospheric testing at the Nevada Test Site). The fact that actinide contamination is detected in recent lichen collections suggests continuous re-suspension of fallout radionuclides even 50 years after ratification of the Limited Test Ban Treaty.

77 FR 6094 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-07

....-International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol. Under the U.S.-International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA...-related activities to the IAEA and potentially provide access to IAEA inspectors for verification purposes. The U.S.-IAEA Additional Protocol permits the United States unilaterally to declare exclusions from...

Tiered protocol implementation improves treatment of hypoglycaemia in a neurosciences critical care and surgical intensive care unit.

PubMed

Van Berkel, Megan A; MacDermott, Jennifer; Dungan, Kathleen M; Cook, Charles H; Murphy, Claire V

2017-12-01

Although studies demonstrate techniques to limit hypoglycaemia in critically ill patients, there are limited data supporting methods to improve management of existing hypoglycaemia. Assess the impact and sustainability of a computerised, three tiered, nurse driven protocol for hypoglycaemia treatment. Retrospective pre and post protocol study. Neurosciences and surgical intensive care units at a tertiary academic medical centre. Patients with a hypoglycaemic episode were included during a pre-protocol or post-protocol implementation period. An additional six-month cohort was evaluated to assess sustainability. Fifty-four patients were included for evaluation (35 pre- and 19 post-protocol); 122 patients were included in the sustainability cohort. Hypoglycaemia treatment significantly improved in the post-protocol cohort (20% vs. 52.6%, p=0.014); with additional improvement to 79.5% in the sustainability cohort. Time to follow-up blood glucose was decreased after treatment from 122 [Q1-Q3: 46-242] minutes pre-protocol to 25 [Q1-Q3: 9-48] minutes post protocol (p<0.0001). This reduction was maintained in the sustainability cohort [median of 29min (Q1-Q3: 20-51)]. Implementation of a nurse-driven, three-tiered protocol for treatment of hypoglyacemia significantly improved treatment rates, as well as reduced time to recheck blood glucose measurement. These benefits were sustained during a six-month period after protocol implementation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Password-Only Authenticated Three-Party Key Exchange Proven Secure against Insider Dictionary Attacks

PubMed Central

Nam, Junghyun; Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond

2014-01-01

While a number of protocols for password-only authenticated key exchange (PAKE) in the 3-party setting have been proposed, it still remains a challenging task to prove the security of a 3-party PAKE protocol against insider dictionary attacks. To the best of our knowledge, there is no 3-party PAKE protocol that carries a formal proof, or even definition, of security against insider dictionary attacks. In this paper, we present the first 3-party PAKE protocol proven secure against both online and offline dictionary attacks as well as insider and outsider dictionary attacks. Our construct can be viewed as a protocol compiler that transforms any 2-party PAKE protocol into a 3-party PAKE protocol with 2 additional rounds of communication. We also present a simple and intuitive approach of formally modelling dictionary attacks in the password-only 3-party setting, which significantly reduces the complexity of proving the security of 3-party PAKE protocols against dictionary attacks. In addition, we investigate the security of the well-known 3-party PAKE protocol, called GPAKE, due to Abdalla et al. (2005, 2006), and demonstrate that the security of GPAKE against online dictionary attacks depends heavily on the composition of its two building blocks, namely a 2-party PAKE protocol and a 3-party key distribution protocol. PMID:25309956

CT protocol management: simplifying the process by using a master protocol concept.

PubMed

Szczykutowicz, Timothy P; Bour, Robert K; Rubert, Nicholas; Wendt, Gary; Pozniak, Myron; Ranallo, Frank N

2015-07-08

This article explains a method for creating CT protocols for a wide range of patient body sizes and clinical indications, using detailed tube current information from a small set of commonly used protocols. Analytical expressions were created relating CT technical acquisition parameters which can be used to create new CT protocols on a given scanner or customize protocols from one scanner to another. Plots of mA as a function of patient size for specific anatomical regions were generated and used to identify the tube output needs for patients as a function of size for a single master protocol. Tube output data were obtained from the DICOM header of clinical images from our PACS and patient size was measured from CT localizer radiographs under IRB approval. This master protocol was then used to create 11 additional master protocols. The 12 master protocols were further combined to create 39 single and multiphase clinical protocols. Radiologist acceptance rate of exams scanned using the clinical protocols was monitored for 12,857 patients to analyze the effectiveness of the presented protocol management methods using a two-tailed Fisher's exact test. A single routine adult abdominal protocol was used as the master protocol to create 11 additional master abdominal protocols of varying dose and beam energy. Situations in which the maximum tube current would have been exceeded are presented, and the trade-offs between increasing the effective tube output via 1) decreasing pitch, 2) increasing the scan time, or 3) increasing the kV are discussed. Out of 12 master protocols customized across three different scanners, only one had a statistically significant acceptance rate that differed from the scanner it was customized from. The difference, however, was only 1% and was judged to be negligible. All other master protocols differed in acceptance rate insignificantly between scanners. The methodology described in this paper allows a small set of master protocols to be adapted among different clinical indications on a single scanner and among different CT scanners.

REVIEW OF THE NEGOTIATION OF THE MODEL PROTOCOL ADDITIONAL TO THE AGREEMENT(S) BETWEEN STATE(S) AND THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY FOR THE APPLICATION OF SAFEGUARDS, INFCIRC/540 (Corrected) VOLUME II/III IAEA COMMITTEE 24, Major Issues Underlying the Model Additional Protocol (1996-1997).

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rosenthal, M.D.; Saum-Manning, L.; Houck, F.

Volume I of this Review traces the origins of the Model Additional Protocol. It covers the period from 1991, when events in Iraq triggered an intensive review of the safeguards system, until 1996, when the IAEA Board of Governors established Committee 24 to negotiate a new protocol to safeguards agreement. The period from 1991-1996 set the stage for this negotiation and shaped its outcome in important ways. During this 5-year period, many proposals for strengthening safeguards were suggested and reviewed. Some proposals were dropped, for example, the suggestion by the IAEA Secretariat to verify certain imports, and others were refined.more » A rough consensus was established about the directions in which the international community wanted to go, and this was reflected in the draft of an additional protocol that was submitted to the IAEA Board of Governors on May 6, 1996 in document GOV/2863, Strengthening the Effectiveness and Improving the Efficiency of the Safeguards System - Proposals For Implementation Under Complementary Legal Authority, A Report by the Director General. This document ended with a recommendation that, 'the Board, through an appropriate mechanism, finalize the required legal instrument taking as a basis the draft protocol proposed by the Secretariat and the explanation of the measures contained in this document.'« less

Relativistic quantum cryptography

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Molotkov, S. N., E-mail: molotkov@issp.ac.ru

2011-03-15

A new protocol of quantum key distribution is proposed to transmit keys through free space. Along with quantum-mechanical restrictions on the discernibility of nonorthogonal quantum states, the protocol uses additional restrictions imposed by special relativity theory. Unlike all existing quantum key distribution protocols, this protocol ensures key secrecy for a not strictly one-photon source of quantum states and an arbitrary length of a quantum communication channel.

Metal- and additive-free photoinduced borylation of haloarenes.

PubMed

Mfuh, Adelphe M; Schneider, Brett D; Cruces, Westley; Larionov, Oleg V

2017-03-01

Boronic acids and esters have critical roles in the areas of synthetic organic chemistry, molecular sensors, materials science, drug discovery, and catalysis. Many of the current applications of boronic acids and esters require materials with very low levels of transition metal contamination. Most of the current methods for the synthesis of boronic acids, however, require transition metal catalysts and ligands that must be removed via additional purification procedures. This protocol describes a simple, metal- and additive-free method of conversion of haloarenes directly to boronic acids and esters. This photoinduced borylation protocol does not require expensive and toxic metal catalysts or ligands, and it produces innocuous and easy-to-remove by-products. Furthermore, the reaction can be carried out on multigram scales in common-grade solvents without the need for reaction mixtures to be deoxygenated. The setup and purification steps are typically accomplished within 1-3 h. The reactions can be run overnight, and the protocol can be completed within 13-16 h. Two representative procedures that are described in this protocol provide details for preparation of a boronic acid (3-cyanopheylboronic acid) and a boronic ester (1,4-benzenediboronic acid bis(pinacol)ester). We also discuss additional details of the method that will be helpful in the application of the protocol to other haloarene substrates.

Comparison of Cryopreservation Protocols (Single and Two-steps) and Thawing (Fast and Slow) for Canine Sperm.

PubMed

Brito, Maíra M; Lúcio, Cristina F; Angrimani, Daniel S R; Losano, João Diego A; Dalmazzo, Andressa; Nichi, Marcílio; Vannucchi, Camila I

2017-01-02

In addition to the existence of several cryopreservation protocols, no systematic research has been carried out in order to confirm the suitable protocol for canine sperm. This study aims to assess the effect of adding 5% glycerol during cryopreservation at 37°C (one-step) and 5°C (two-steps), in addition of testing two thawing protocols (37°C for 30 seconds, and 70°C for 8 seconds). We used 12 sperm samples divided into four experimental groups: Single-Step - Slow Thawing Group; Two-Step - Slow Thawing Group; Single-Step - Fast Thawing Group; and Two-Step - Fast Thawing Group. Frozen-thawed samples were submitted to automated analysis of sperm motility, evaluation of plasmatic membrane integrity, acrosomal integrity, mitochondrial activity, sperm morphology, sperm susceptibility to oxidative stress, and sperm binding assay to perivitellinic membrane of chicken egg yolk. Considering the comparison between freezing protocols, no statistical differences were verified for any of the response variables. When comparison between thawing protocols was performed, slow thawing protocol presented higher sperm count bound to perivitelline membrane of chicken egg yolk, compared to fast thawing protocol. Regardless of the freezing process, the slow thawing protocol can be recommended for the large scale cryopreservation of canine semen, since it shows a consistent better functional result.

Nonblocking and orphan free message logging protocols

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alvisi, Lorenzo; Hoppe, Bruce; Marzullo, Keith

1992-01-01

Currently existing message logging protocols demonstrate a classic pessimistic vs. optimistic tradeoff. We show that the optimistic-pessimistic tradeoff is not inherent to the problem of message logging. We construct a message-logging protocol that has the positive features of both optimistic and pessimistic protocol: our protocol prevents orphans and allows simple failure recovery; however, it requires no blocking in failure-free runs. Furthermore, this protocol does not introduce any additional message overhead as compared to one implemented for a system in which messages may be lost but processes do not crash.

Nonblocking and orphan free message logging protocols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alvisi, Lorenzo; Hoppe, Bruce; Marzullo, Keith

1992-12-01

Currently existing message logging protocols demonstrate a classic pessimistic vs. optimistic tradeoff. We show that the optimistic-pessimistic tradeoff is not inherent to the problem of message logging. We construct a message-logging protocol that has the positive features of both optimistic and pessimistic protocol: our protocol prevents orphans and allows simple failure recovery; however, it requires no blocking in failure-free runs. Furthermore, this protocol does not introduce any additional message overhead as compared to one implemented for a system in which messages may be lost but processes do not crash.

Does addition of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in conservative care of knee arthritis successfully postpone the need for joint replacement?

PubMed

Ip, David

2015-12-01

The current study evaluates whether the addition of low-level laser therapy into standard conventional physical therapy in elderly with bilateral symptomatic tri-compartmental knee arthritis can successfully postpone the need for joint replacement surgery. A prospective randomized cohort study of 100 consecutive unselected elderly patients with bilateral symptomatic knee arthritis with each knee randomized to receive either treatment protocol A consisting of conventional physical therapy or protocol B which is the same as protocol A with added low-level laser therapy. The mean follow-up was 6 years. Treatment failure was defined as breakthrough pain which necessitated joint replacement surgery. After a follow-up of 6 years, patients clearly benefited from treatment with protocol B as only one knee needed joint replacement surgery, while nine patients treated with protocol A needed surgery (p < 0.05). We conclude low-level laser therapy should be incorporated into standard conservative treatment protocol for symptomatic knee arthritis.

Supplementation with IL-6 and Muscle Cell Culture Conditioned Media Enhances Myogenic Differentiation of Adipose Tissue-Derived Stem Cells through STAT3 Activation.

PubMed

Seo, Eunhui; Kang, Hwansu; Lim, Oh-Kyung; Jun, Hee-Sook

2018-05-24

Mature skeletal muscle cells cannot be expanded in culture systems. Therefore, it is difficult to construct an in vitro model for muscle diseases. To establish an efficient protocol for myogenic differentiation of human adipose tissue-derived stem cells (hADSCs), we investigated whether addition of IL-6 and/or myocyte-conditioned media (CM) to conventional differentiation media can shorten the differentiation period. hADSCs were differentiated to myocytes using the conventional protocol or modified with the addition of 25 pg/mL IL-6 and/or C2C12 CM (25% v / v ). The expression of MyoD and myogenine mRNA was significantly higher at 5⁻6 days after differentiation using the modified protocol than with the conventional protocol. mRNA and protein expression of myosin heavy chain, a marker of myotubes, was significantly upregulated at 28 and 42 days of differentiation using the modified protocol, and the level achieved after a 4-week differentiation period was similar to that achieved at 6 weeks using the conventional protocol. The expression of p-STAT3 was significantly increased when the modified protocol was used. Similarly, addition of colivelin, a STAT3 activator, instead of IL-6 and C2C12 CM, promoted the myogenic differentiation of ADSCs. The modified protocol improved differentiation efficiency and reduced the time required for differentiation of myocytes. It might be helpful to save cost and time when preparing myocytes for cell therapies and drug discovery.

Real-Time QoS Routing Protocols in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks: Study and Analysis.

PubMed

Alanazi, Adwan; Elleithy, Khaled

2015-09-02

Many routing protocols have been proposed for wireless sensor networks. These routing protocols are almost always based on energy efficiency. However, recent advances in complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) cameras and small microphones have led to the development of Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSN) as a class of wireless sensor networks which pose additional challenges. The transmission of imaging and video data needs routing protocols with both energy efficiency and Quality of Service (QoS) characteristics in order to guarantee the efficient use of the sensor nodes and effective access to the collected data. Also, with integration of real time applications in Wireless Senor Networks (WSNs), the use of QoS routing protocols is not only becoming a significant topic, but is also gaining the attention of researchers. In designing an efficient QoS routing protocol, the reliability and guarantee of end-to-end delay are critical events while conserving energy. Thus, considerable research has been focused on designing energy efficient and robust QoS routing protocols. In this paper, we present a state of the art research work based on real-time QoS routing protocols for WMSNs that have already been proposed. This paper categorizes the real-time QoS routing protocols into probabilistic and deterministic protocols. In addition, both categories are classified into soft and hard real time protocols by highlighting the QoS issues including the limitations and features of each protocol. Furthermore, we have compared the performance of mobility-aware query based real-time QoS routing protocols from each category using Network Simulator-2 (NS2). This paper also focuses on the design challenges and future research directions as well as highlights the characteristics of each QoS routing protocol.

Real-Time QoS Routing Protocols in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks: Study and Analysis

PubMed Central

Alanazi, Adwan; Elleithy, Khaled

2015-01-01

Many routing protocols have been proposed for wireless sensor networks. These routing protocols are almost always based on energy efficiency. However, recent advances in complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) cameras and small microphones have led to the development of Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSN) as a class of wireless sensor networks which pose additional challenges. The transmission of imaging and video data needs routing protocols with both energy efficiency and Quality of Service (QoS) characteristics in order to guarantee the efficient use of the sensor nodes and effective access to the collected data. Also, with integration of real time applications in Wireless Senor Networks (WSNs), the use of QoS routing protocols is not only becoming a significant topic, but is also gaining the attention of researchers. In designing an efficient QoS routing protocol, the reliability and guarantee of end-to-end delay are critical events while conserving energy. Thus, considerable research has been focused on designing energy efficient and robust QoS routing protocols. In this paper, we present a state of the art research work based on real-time QoS routing protocols for WMSNs that have already been proposed. This paper categorizes the real-time QoS routing protocols into probabilistic and deterministic protocols. In addition, both categories are classified into soft and hard real time protocols by highlighting the QoS issues including the limitations and features of each protocol. Furthermore, we have compared the performance of mobility-aware query based real-time QoS routing protocols from each category using Network Simulator-2 (NS2). This paper also focuses on the design challenges and future research directions as well as highlights the characteristics of each QoS routing protocol. PMID:26364639

77 FR 2713 - Agency Information Collection Extension

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-19

...) Package Title: U.S. Declaration under the Protocol Additional to the U.S.-IAEA Safeguards Agreement... Declaration to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) under Articles 2 and 3 of the Protocol Additional... performing activities at DOE Locations that would be declarable to the IAEA under the U.S. AP are affected by...

PROTOCOL FOR EXAMINATION OF THE INNER CAN CLOSURE WELD REGION FOR 3013 DE CONTAINERS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mickalonis, J.

2014-09-16

The protocol for the examination of the inner can closure weld region (ICCWR) for 3013 DE containers is presented within this report. The protocol includes sectioning of the inner can lid section, documenting the surface condition, measuring corrosion parameters, and storing of samples. This protocol may change as the investigation develops since findings may necessitate additional steps be taken. Details of the previous analyses, which formed the basis for this protocol, are also presented.

QKD-based quantum private query without a failure probability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Bin; Gao, Fei; Huang, Wei; Wen, QiaoYan

2015-10-01

In this paper, we present a quantum-key-distribution (QKD)-based quantum private query (QPQ) protocol utilizing single-photon signal of multiple optical pulses. It maintains the advantages of the QKD-based QPQ, i.e., easy to implement and loss tolerant. In addition, different from the situations in the previous QKD-based QPQ protocols, in our protocol, the number of the items an honest user will obtain is always one and the failure probability is always zero. This characteristic not only improves the stability (in the sense that, ignoring the noise and the attack, the protocol would always succeed), but also benefits the privacy of the database (since the database will no more reveal additional secrets to the honest users). Furthermore, for the user's privacy, the proposed protocol is cheat sensitive, and for security of the database, we obtain an upper bound for the leaked information of the database in theory.

Implementation of a 5-Minute Magnetic Resonance Imaging Screening Protocol for Prostate Cancer in Men With Elevated Prostate-Specific Antigen Before Biopsy.

PubMed

Weiss, Jakob; Martirosian, Petros; Notohamiprodjo, Mike; Kaufmann, Sascha; Othman, Ahmed E; Grosse, Ulrich; Nikolaou, Konstantin; Gatidis, Sergios

2018-03-01

The aims of this study were to establish a 5-minute magnetic resonance (MR) screening protocol for prostate cancer in men before biopsy and to evaluate effects on Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) V2 scoring in comparison to a conventional, fully diagnostic multiparametric MR imaging (mpMRI) approach. Fifty-two patients with elevated prostate-specific antigen levels and without prior biopsy were prospectively included in this institutional review board-approved study. In all patients, an mpMRI protocol according to the PI-RADS recommendations was acquired on a 3 T MRI system. In addition, an accelerated diffusion-weighted imaging sequence was acquired using simultaneous multislice technique (DW-EPISMS). Two readers independently evaluated the images for the presence/absence of prostate cancer according to the PI-RADS criteria and for additional findings. In a first reading session, only the screening protocol consisting of axial T2-weighted and DW-EPISMS images was made available. In a subsequent reading session, the mpMRI protocol was assessed blinded to the results of the first reading, serving as reference standard. Both readers successfully established a final diagnosis according to the PI-RADS criteria in the screening and mpMRI protocol. Mean lesion size was 1.2 cm in the screening and 1.4 cm in the mpMRI protocol (P = 0.4) with 35% (18/52) of PI-RADS IV/V lesions. Diagnostic performance of the screening protocol was excellent with a sensitivity and specificity of 100% for both readers with no significant differences in comparison to the mpMRI standard (P = 1.0). In 3 patients, suspicious lymph nodes were reported as additional finding, which were equally detectable in the screening and mpMRI protocol. A 5-minute MR screening protocol for prostate cancer in men with elevated prostate-specific antigen levels before biopsy is applicable for clinical routine with similar diagnostic performance as the full diagnostic mpMRI approach.

NASA SpaceWire Activities/Comments/Recommendations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rakow, Glenn

2006-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews NASA's activities, and proposes recommendations for the further use of the SpaceWire (SpW). The areas covered in this presentation are: (1) Protocol ID assignment, (2) Protocol development, (3) Plug & Play (PnP), (4) Recommended additions t o SpW protocol and (5) SpaceFibre trade.

MTP: An atomic multicast transport protocol

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freier, Alan O.; Marzullo, Keith

1990-01-01

Multicast transport protocol (MTP); a reliable transport protocol that utilizes the multicast strategy of applicable lower layer network architectures is described. In addition to transporting data reliably and efficiently, MTP provides the client synchronization necessary for agreement on the receipt of data and the joining of the group of communicants.

First Congress of the United States tackled geophysics in 1789

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silverman, Sam

1998-06-01

When the first Congress of the United States under the new Constitution convened in the spring of 1789, one of the first orders of business involved a geophysical project. This involved, first, a petition from John Churchman for protection of an invention for determination of longitude using magnetic variation, and second, a request for congressional support for a voyage to Baffin's Bay to determine the cause of the magnetic variation. The discussions and arguments are an instructive introduction to those that arise when Congress considers scientific projects. The new government came into being after ratification by the requisite nine states. The new Congress met for the first time on March 4, 1789, in New York, but almost immediately adjourned in the absence of a quorum.

Clinical research with children: the European legal framework and its implementation in French and Italian law.

PubMed

Altavilla, Annagrazia

2008-07-01

According to the International Convention of the Rights of the Child, an improvement of the protection of the rights of children in Europe should be accomplished by inserting the principle of best interests and evolving capacities in the legal framework related to paediatric clinical research. In this article, an overview is given of the European legal framework governing clinical research on minors in a comparative approach. The lack of coordination between different International and European ethical/ legal statements and its impact on national legislations is evaluated by analyzing provisions that have been foreseen in Italy and in France as a result of the ratification/implementation process. A presentation of the perspectives of paediatric research in Europe is provided.

The Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of the Council of Europe.

PubMed

Dommel, F William; Alexander, Duane

1997-09-01

The Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine developed by the Council of Europe, now undergoing ratification, is the first international treaty focused on bioethics. This article describes the background of the Convention's development and its general provisions and provides a comparison of its requirements with those of federal regulations governing research with human subjects. Although most provisions are comparable, there are significant differences in scope and applicability, for example, in the areas of compensation for injury, research participation by persons with limited capacity to consent, assisted reproduction, organ transplantation, and research in emergency situations. The Convention represents a milestone in international bioethics and protection of human rights that will probably be referred to with increasing frequency.

Single preoperative dose of prophylactic amoxicillin versus a 2-day postoperative course in dental implant surgery: A two-centre randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Arduino, Paolo G; Tirone, Federico; Schiorlin, Emanuele; Esposito, Marco

2015-01-01

To evaluate the difference between a single preoperative dose versus an additional two-day postoperative course of oral amoxicillin in patients undergoing conventional dental implant placement. Two dentists in two different private practices conducted this study. One hour prior to surgery, patients had to take a single prophylactic antibiotic dose, consisting of 2 g of amoxicillin orally; after implant placement, patients were randomly allocated to two different groups: protocol A (no other antibiotic administration) and protocol B, (1 g of amoxicillin in the evening of the day of surgery and 1 g twice a day for the 2 days after). Outcome measures were prosthetic and implant failures, adverse events and early postoperative complications. Patients were followed up to 6 months after functional loading. Three hundred and sixty patients were randomised and treated (192 patients in one centre and 168 in the other). Five hundred and sixty-seven implants were placed. Protocol A was applied to 180 patients (278 implants) and protocol B also to 180 patients (289 implants). Data for 17 patients, 14 from protocol A and three from protocol B, were not available. No statistically significant differences were found for the reported outcomes. Two patients of protocol B experienced a prosthetic failure, losing four implants, while no prosthetic failures were reported for protocol A (P=0.4836; difference in proportions=-0.0110; 95% CI: -0.0412 to 0.0119). Five patients (3.0%) of protocol A lost five implants versus 5 patients (2.8%) who lost eight implants in protocol B (P=1.0000; difference in proportions=0.0020; 95% CI: -0.0384 to 0.0438). Three adverse events were observed in the total population, all occurring in protocol B (1.69%), with no statistically significant differences between the two groups (P=0.1199; difference in proportions=-0.0170; 95% CI: -0.0487 to 0.0059). However, one patient experienced a severe allergic reaction requiring therapy discontinuation and hospital admission. Early postoperative complications occurred in six patients of protocol A and in four patients of protocol B, with no statistically significant differences (P=0.5170; difference in proportions=0.0130; 95% CI: -0.0254 to 0.0568). No statistically significant differences were observed between 2 g of preoperative amoxicillin and an additional 2-day postoperative course, although adverse events were reported only in the additional 2-day postoperative group. Based on these findings, it might be sufficient to routinely administer preoperatively 2 g of amoxicillin to patients undergoing routine dental implant placement procedures rather than administering additional postoperative doses.

15 CFR 781.1 - Definitions of terms used in the Additional Protocol Regulations (APR).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in... Additional Protocol. Agreement State. Any State of the United States with which the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has entered into an effective agreement under Subsection 274b of the Atomic Energy Act of...

15 CFR 781.1 - Definitions of terms used in the Additional Protocol Regulations (APR).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in... Additional Protocol. Agreement State. Any State of the United States with which the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has entered into an effective agreement under Subsection 274b of the Atomic Energy Act of...

15 CFR 781.1 - Definitions of terms used in the Additional Protocol Regulations (APR).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in... Additional Protocol. Agreement State. Any State of the United States with which the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has entered into an effective agreement under Subsection 274b of the Atomic Energy Act of...

15 CFR 781.1 - Definitions of terms used in the Additional Protocol Regulations (APR).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in... Additional Protocol. Agreement State. Any State of the United States with which the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has entered into an effective agreement under Subsection 274b of the Atomic Energy Act of...

15 CFR 781.1 - Definitions of terms used in the Additional Protocol Regulations (APR).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in... Additional Protocol. Agreement State. Any State of the United States with which the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has entered into an effective agreement under Subsection 274b of the Atomic Energy Act of...

Evaluation of the articular cartilage of the knee joint: value of adding a T2 mapping sequence to a routine MR imaging protocol.

PubMed

Kijowski, Richard; Blankenbaker, Donna G; Munoz Del Rio, Alejandro; Baer, Geoffrey S; Graf, Ben K

2013-05-01

To determine whether the addition of a T2 mapping sequence to a routine magnetic resonance (MR) imaging protocol could improve diagnostic performance in the detection of surgically confirmed cartilage lesions within the knee joint at 3.0 T. This prospective study was approved by the institutional review board, and the requirement to obtain informed consent was waived. The study group consisted of 150 patients (76 male and 74 female patients with an average age of 41.2 and 41.5 years, respectively) who underwent MR imaging and arthroscopy of the knee joint. MR imaging was performed at 3.0 T by using a routine protocol with the addition of a sagittal T2 mapping sequence. Images from all MR examinations were reviewed in consensus by two radiologists before surgery to determine the presence or absence of cartilage lesions on each articular surface, first by using the routine MR protocol alone and then by using the routine MR protocol with T2 maps. Each articular surface was then evaluated at arthroscopy. Generalized estimating equation models were used to compare the sensitivity and specificity of the routine MR imaging protocol with and without T2 maps in the detection of surgically confirmed cartilage lesions. The sensitivity and specificity in the detection of 351 cartilage lesions were 74.6% and 97.8%, respectively, for the routine MR protocol alone and 88.9% and 93.1% for the routine MR protocol with T2 maps. Differences in sensitivity and specificity were statistically significant (P < .001). The addition of T2 maps to the routine MR imaging protocol significantly improved the sensitivity in the detection of 24 areas of cartilage softening (from 4.2% to 62%, P < .001), 41 areas of cartilage fibrillation (from 20% to 66%, P < .001), and 96 superficial partial-thickness cartilage defects (from 71% to 88%, P = .004). The addition of a T2 mapping sequence to a routine MR protocol at 3.0 T improved sensitivity in the detection of cartilage lesions within the knee joint from 74.6% to 88.9%, with only a small reduction in specificity. The greatest improvement in sensitivity with use of the T2 maps was in the identification of early cartilage degeneration. © RSNA, 2013.

Quantum cryptography: individual eavesdropping with the knowledge of the error-correcting protocol

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Horoshko, D B

2007-12-31

The quantum key distribution protocol BB84 combined with the repetition protocol for error correction is analysed from the point of view of its security against individual eavesdropping relying on quantum memory. It is shown that the mere knowledge of the error-correcting protocol changes the optimal attack and provides the eavesdropper with additional information on the distributed key. (fifth seminar in memory of d.n. klyshko)

Can combined use of low-level lasers and hyaluronic acid injections prolong the longevity of degenerative knee joints?

PubMed Central

Ip, David; Fu, Nga Yue

2015-01-01

Background This study evaluated whether half-yearly hyaluronic acid injection together with low-level laser therapy in addition to standard conventional physical therapy can successfully postpone the need for joint replacement surgery in elderly patients with bilateral symptomatic tricompartmental knee arthritis. Methods In this prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 70 consecutive unselected elderly patients with bilateral tricompartmental knee arthritis were assigned at random to either one of two conservative treatment protocols to either one of the painful knees. Protocol A consisted of conventional physical therapy plus a sham light source plus saline injection, and protocol B consisted of protocol A with addition of half-yearly hyaluronic acid injection as well as low-level laser treatment instead of using saline and a sham light source. Treatment failure was defined as breakthrough pain necessitating joint replacement. Results Among the 140 painful knees treated with either protocol A or protocol B, only one of the 70 painful knees treated by protocol B required joint replacement, whereas 15 of the 70 painful knees treated by protocol A needed joint replacement surgery (P<0.05). Conclusion We conclude that half-yearly hyaluronic acid injections together with low-level laser therapy should be incorporated into the standard conservative treatment protocol for symptomatic knee arthritis, because it may prolong the longevity of the knee joint without the need for joint replacement. PMID:26346122

CT protocol management: simplifying the process by using a master protocol concept

PubMed Central

Bour, Robert K.; Rubert, Nicholas; Wendt, Gary; Pozniak, Myron; Ranallo, Frank N.

2015-01-01

This article explains a method for creating CT protocols for a wide range of patient body sizes and clinical indications, using detailed tube current information from a small set of commonly used protocols. Analytical expressions were created relating CT technical acquisition parameters which can be used to create new CT protocols on a given scanner or customize protocols from one scanner to another. Plots of mA as a function of patient size for specific anatomical regions were generated and used to identify the tube output needs for patients as a function of size for a single master protocol. Tube output data were obtained from the DICOM header of clinical images from our PACS and patient size was measured from CT localizer radiographs under IRB approval. This master protocol was then used to create 11 additional master protocols. The 12 master protocols were further combined to create 39 single and multiphase clinical protocols. Radiologist acceptance rate of exams scanned using the clinical protocols was monitored for 12,857 patients to analyze the effectiveness of the presented protocol management methods using a two‐tailed Fisher's exact test. A single routine adult abdominal protocol was used as the master protocol to create 11 additional master abdominal protocols of varying dose and beam energy. Situations in which the maximum tube current would have been exceeded are presented, and the trade‐offs between increasing the effective tube output via 1) decreasing pitch, 2) increasing the scan time, or 3) increasing the kV are discussed. Out of 12 master protocols customized across three different scanners, only one had a statistically significant acceptance rate that differed from the scanner it was customized from. The difference, however, was only 1% and was judged to be negligible. All other master protocols differed in acceptance rate insignificantly between scanners. The methodology described in this paper allows a small set of master protocols to be adapted among different clinical indications on a single scanner and among different CT scanners. PACS number: 87.57.Q PMID:26219005

An economic and feasible Quantum Sealed-bid Auction protocol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Rui; Shi, Run-hua; Qin, Jia-qi; Peng, Zhen-wan

2018-02-01

We present an economic and feasible Quantum Sealed-bid Auction protocol using quantum secure direct communication based on single photons in both the polarization and the spatial-mode degrees of freedom, where each single photon can carry two bits of classical information. Compared with previous protocols, our protocol has higher efficiency. In addition, we propose a secure post-confirmation mechanism without quantum entanglement to guarantee the security and the fairness of the auction.

Linking Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) data to the WHO framework convention on tobacco control: the case for India.

PubMed

Sinha, Dhirendra Narain; Reddy, K Srinath; Rahman, Khalilur; Warren, Charles W; Jones, Nathan R; Asma, Samira

2006-01-01

India ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) on February 27, 2005. The WHO FCTC is the world's first public health treaty that aims to promote and protect public health and reduce the devastating health and economic impacts of tobacco. Post ratification, each member state as part of general obligation has agreed to develop, implement, periodically update and review comprehensive multisectoral national tobacco control strategies, plans and programmes in accordance with this Convention and the protocols to which it is a Party. The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) was developed to track tobacco use among young people across countries and the GYTS surveillance system intends to enhance the capacity of countries to design, implement, and evaluate tobacco control and prevention programs. The South-East Asia Region of WHO has developed the "Regional Strategy for Utilization of the GYTS" to meet this need for countries in the Region. In 2003, India has passed its national tobacco control legislation (India Tobacco Control Act [ITCA]), which includes provisions designed to reduce tobacco consumption and protect citizens from exposure to second hand smoke. Data in the GYTS (India) report can be used as a baseline measure for future evaluation of the tobacco control programs implemented by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. India has to upscale some provisions of its National Law to accommodate all of the requirements of FCTC. Using determinants measured by GYTS in India, the government can monitor the impact of enforcing various provisions of the ITCA and the progress made in achieving the goals of the WHO FCTC and the Regional Strategies. Effective enforcement of the provisions of ITCA will show in the receding numbers of tobacco use prevalence figures and reduction in the expenditures associated with tobacco use in India.

Satellite Communications Using Commercial Protocols

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ivancic, William D.; Griner, James H.; Dimond, Robert; Frantz, Brian D.; Kachmar, Brian; Shell, Dan

2000-01-01

NASA Glenn Research Center has been working with industry, academia, and other government agencies in assessing commercial communications protocols for satellite and space-based applications. In addition, NASA Glenn has been developing and advocating new satellite-friendly modifications to existing communications protocol standards. This paper summarizes recent research into the applicability of various commercial standard protocols for use over satellite and space- based communications networks as well as expectations for future protocol development. It serves as a reference point from which the detailed work can be readily accessed. Areas that will be addressed include asynchronous-transfer-mode quality of service; completed and ongoing work of the Internet Engineering Task Force; data-link-layer protocol development for unidirectional link routing; and protocols for aeronautical applications, including mobile Internet protocol routing for wireless/mobile hosts and the aeronautical telecommunications network protocol.

Quantum-key-distribution protocol with pseudorandom bases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trushechkin, A. S.; Tregubov, P. A.; Kiktenko, E. O.; Kurochkin, Y. V.; Fedorov, A. K.

2018-01-01

Quantum key distribution (QKD) offers a way for establishing information-theoretical secure communications. An important part of QKD technology is a high-quality random number generator for the quantum-state preparation and for post-processing procedures. In this work, we consider a class of prepare-and-measure QKD protocols, utilizing additional pseudorandomness in the preparation of quantum states. We study one of such protocols and analyze its security against the intercept-resend attack. We demonstrate that, for single-photon sources, the considered protocol gives better secret key rates than the BB84 and the asymmetric BB84 protocols. However, the protocol strongly requires single-photon sources.

[The experiments conducted by Japanese on human guinea pigs, and the use of biological weapons during the Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945)].

PubMed

Sabbatani, Sergio

2014-09-01

Starting from the end of the nineteenth century, and during the first four decades of the past century, Japan showed considerable military expansion, on the back of a pan-Asiatic and imperialistic ideology, comparable only to those expressed by Wilhelmian and Nazi Germany. This growth led to Japan playing an extremely important role in the Asia-Pacific continent, which unavoidably brought the country onto a collision course with the British Empire and the United States of America. The Japanese general Shiro Ishii, who had undoubted organisational abilities but also a propensity for crimes against mankind, starting from the end of the 1920s and during the subsequent decade, under the suggestion of a military physician, developed a research programme to obtain biological weapons, since he was aware of the lack of raw materials, technology and scientific background in nuclear weapons. This project was taken forward despite Japan's ratification of the Geneva protocol, undersigned by 70 nations, which posed strict limits to the use of both biological and chemical weapons. In actual fact, the protocol allowed these weapons for defensive purposes, and permitted their experimental development. The research programme, developed with the support of the high command of the Japanese army and certainly known by the Emperor (Tenno) Hirohito, had its operative basis from the year 1932 in the satellite state of Manchukuo, but later and paralleling the increased, aggressive behaviour towards China and the English and American colonies during World War II, spread towards other Asian provinces occupied by the Japanese armies, with other operative units. In these dedicated bases, which were true concentration camps, numerous experiments were carried out on human guinea pigs, frequently concluding with vivisection. Among others, experiments of freezing, thirst, hunger, loss of blood, wounding with firearms, and bone fractures, were performed, as well as the inoculation of microorganisms (including Yersinia pestis, Vibrio cholerae, Richettsia typhi, and Salmonella typhi), and spores of Bacillus anthracis. With regard to infectious diseases, the objective was to establish the most effective models for the use of biological weapons, taking into consideration the features of territories and populations to be placed under attack. It has been estimated that over 100,000 people suffered in such experiments, and according to the authors who studied these facts on the basis of original documentation, approximately 540,000 subjects lost their lives in China and Korea due to epidemics caused by the Japanese between 1937 and 1945.

Secure multi-party quantum summation based on quantum Fourier transform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Hui-Yi; Ye, Tian-Yu

2018-06-01

In this paper, we propose a novel secure multi-party quantum summation protocol based on quantum Fourier transform, where the traveling particles are transmitted in a tree-type mode. The party who prepares the initial quantum states is assumed to be semi-honest, which means that she may misbehave on her own but will not conspire with anyone. The proposed protocol can resist both the outside attacks and the participant attacks. Especially, one party cannot obtain other parties' private integer strings; and it is secure for the colluding attack performed by at most n - 2 parties, where n is the number of parties. In addition, the proposed protocol calculates the addition of modulo d and implements the calculation of addition in a secret-by-secret way rather than a bit-by-bit way.

Further developments in generating type-safe messaging

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Neswold, R.; King, C.; /Fermilab

2011-11-01

At ICALEPCS 09, we introduced a source code generator that allows processes to communicate safely using data types native to each host language. In this paper, we discuss further development that has occurred since the conference in Kobe, Japan, including the addition of three more client languages, an optimization in network packet size and the addition of a new protocol data type. The protocol compiler is continuing to prove itself as an easy and robust way to get applications written in different languages hosted on different computer architectures to communicate. We have two active Erlang projects that are using themore » protocol compiler to access ACNET data at high data rates. We also used the protocol compiler output to deliver ACNET data to an iPhone/iPad application. Since it takes an average of two weeks to support a new language, we're willing to expand the protocol compiler to support new languages that our community uses.« less

Experimental eavesdropping attack against Ekert's protocol based on Wigner's inequality

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bovino, F. A.; Colla, A. M.; Castagnoli, G.

2003-09-01

We experimentally implemented an eavesdropping attack against the Ekert protocol for quantum key distribution based on the Wigner inequality. We demonstrate a serious lack of security of this protocol when the eavesdropper gains total control of the source. In addition we tested a modified Wigner inequality which should guarantee a secure quantum key distribution.

40 CFR 82.20 - Availability of consumption allowances in addition to baseline consumption allowances for class...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... period some quantity of consumption that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol. (2) Trade... Party to the Protocol as set forth in this paragraph (b). A person may only receive consumption from... maximum consumption that the nation is allowed under the Protocol minus the quantity (in kilograms) traded...

40 CFR 82.20 - Availability of consumption allowances in addition to baseline consumption allowances for class...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... period some quantity of consumption that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol. (2) Trade... Party to the Protocol as set forth in this paragraph (b). A person may only receive consumption from... maximum consumption that the nation is allowed under the Protocol minus the quantity (in kilograms) traded...

40 CFR 82.20 - Availability of consumption allowances in addition to baseline consumption allowances for class...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... period some quantity of consumption that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol. (2) Trade... Party to the Protocol as set forth in this paragraph (b). A person may only receive consumption from... maximum consumption that the nation is allowed under the Protocol minus the quantity (in kilograms) traded...

40 CFR 82.20 - Availability of consumption allowances in addition to baseline consumption allowances for class...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... period some quantity of consumption that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol. (2) Trade... Party to the Protocol as set forth in this paragraph (b). A person may only receive consumption from... maximum consumption that the nation is allowed under the Protocol minus the quantity (in kilograms) traded...

40 CFR 82.20 - Availability of consumption allowances in addition to baseline consumption allowances for class...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... period some quantity of consumption that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol. (2) Trade... Party to the Protocol as set forth in this paragraph (b). A person may only receive consumption from... maximum consumption that the nation is allowed under the Protocol minus the quantity (in kilograms) traded...

Detection of Early lung Cancer Among Military Personnel (DECAMP)

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-10-01

addition of two new recruitment sites. We have recruited ~75% of the 500 total subjects in the indeterminate pulmonary nodule study (Protocol 1), and...60% of the 800 total subjects in the longitudinal screening study (Protocol 2). We have also added a junior faculty pulmonary physician and scientific...supplement infrastructure support within DECAMP and pursue additional biomarker studies . 15. SUBJECT TERMS 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17

Protocol biopsies in renal transplantation: prognostic value of structural monitoring.

PubMed

Serón, D; Moreso, F

2007-09-01

The natural history of renal allograft damage has been characterized in serial protocol biopsies. The prevalence of subclinical rejection (SCR) is maximal during the first months and it is associated with the progression of interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy (IF/TA) and a decreased graft survival. IF/TA rapidly progress during the first months and constitutes an independent predictor of graft survival. IF/TA associated with transplant vasculopathy, SCR, or transplant glomerulopathy implies a poorer prognosis than IF/TA without additional lesions. These observations suggest that protocol biopsies could be considered a surrogate of graft survival. Preliminary data suggest that the predictive value of protocol biopsies is not inferior to acute rejection or renal function. Additionally, protocol biopsies have been employed as a secondary efficacy variable in clinical trials. This strategy has been useful to demonstrate a decrease in the progression of IF/TA in some calcineurin-free regimens. Quantification of renal damage is associated with graft survival suggesting that quantitative parameters might improve the predictive value of protocol biopsies. Validation of protocol biopsies as a surrogate of graft survival is actively pursued, as the utility of classical surrogates of graft outcome such as acute rejection has become less useful because of its decreased prevalence with actual immunosuppression.

On Robust Key Agreement Based on Public Key Authentication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, Feng

We describe two new attacks on the HMQV protocol. The first attack raises a serious question on the basic definition of "authentication" in HMQV, while the second attack is generally applicable to many other protocols. In addition, we present a new authenticated key agreement protocol called YAK. Our approach is to depend on well-established techniques such as Schnorr's signature. Among all the related protocols, YAK appears to be the simplest so far. We believe simplicity is an important engineering principle.

An Efficient Multiparty Quantum Secret Sharing Protocol Based on Bell States in the High Dimension Hilbert Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Gan; Wang, Li-Ping

2010-11-01

We propose a quantum secret sharing protocol, in which Bell states in the high dimension Hilbert space are employed. The biggest advantage of our protocol is the high source capacity. Compared with the previous secret sharing protocol, ours has the higher controlling efficiency. In addition, as decoy states in the high dimension Hilbert space are used, we needn’t destroy quantum entanglement for achieving the goal to check the channel security.

A Secure Authenticated Key Exchange Protocol for Credential Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shin, Seonghan; Kobara, Kazukuni; Imai, Hideki

In this paper, we propose a leakage-resilient and proactive authenticated key exchange (called LRP-AKE) protocol for credential services which provides not only a higher level of security against leakage of stored secrets but also secrecy of private key with respect to the involving server. And we show that the LRP-AKE protocol is provably secure in the random oracle model with the reduction to the computational Difie-Hellman problem. In addition, we discuss about some possible applications of the LRP-AKE protocol.

A new quantum sealed-bid auction protocol with secret order in post-confirmation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jing-Tao; Chen, Xiu-Bo; Xu, Gang; Meng, Xiang-Hua; Yang, Yi-Xian

2015-10-01

A new security protocol for quantum sealed-bid auction is proposed to resist the collusion attack from some malicious bidders. The most significant feature of this protocol is that bidders prepare their particles with secret order in post-confirmation for encoding bids. In addition, a new theorem and its proof are given based on the theory of combinatorial mathematics, which can be used as evaluation criteria for the collusion attack. It is shown that the new protocol is immune to the collusion attack and meets the demand for a secure auction. Compared with those previous protocols, the security, efficiency and availability of the proposed protocol are largely improved.

Assessing the Expected Impact of Global Health Treaties: Evidence From 90 Quantitative Evaluations

PubMed Central

Røttingen, John-Arne

2015-01-01

We assessed what impact can be expected from global health treaties on the basis of 90 quantitative evaluations of existing treaties on trade, finance, human rights, conflict, and the environment. It appears treaties consistently succeed in shaping economic matters and consistently fail in achieving social progress. There are at least 3 differences between these domains that point to design characteristics that new global health treaties can incorporate to achieve positive impact: (1) incentives for those with power to act on them; (2) institutions designed to bring edicts into effect; and (3) interests advocating their negotiation, adoption, ratification, and domestic implementation. Experimental and quasiexperimental evaluations of treaties would provide more information about what can be expected from this type of global intervention. PMID:25393196

International Human Rights to Early Intervention for Infants and Young Children with Disabilities: Tools for Global Advocacy

PubMed Central

Brown, Sharan E.; Guralnick, Michael J.

2015-01-01

With almost universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the growing number of States Parties that have signed or ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the majority of countries in the world have now committed to implementing the human rights articulated in these treaties. In this article we first provide an overview of both Conventions, highlight the articles in the treaties that are relevant to early intervention for infants and young children with disabilities, and describe the specific duties required of States Parties to ensure compliance including international cooperation. Second, a series of early intervention action principles are put forward that can help States Parties translate the underlying values of the Conventions into practice. PMID:26213446

Social determinants of workers' health in Central America.

PubMed

Aragón, Aurora; Partanen, Timo; Felknor, Sarah; Corriols, Marianela

2011-01-01

This communication summarizes the available data on work-related determinants of health in Central America. The Central American working population is young and moving from agriculture toward industry and services. Ethnicity, gender, migration, subemployment and precarious work, informality, rural conditions, low-level educational, poverty, ubiquitous worksite health hazards, insufficient occupational health services, low labor inspection density, and weak unions define the constellation of social determinants of workers' health in Central America. Data are, however, scanty both for hazards and work-related illnesses and injuries. Governments and industries have the responsibility of opening decent work opportunities, especially for those facing multiple inequalities in social determinants of health. A first step would be the ratification and implementation of the ILO Convention (187) on occupational safety and health by the seven national governments of the region.

75 FR 4323 - Additional Quantitative Fit-testing Protocols for the Respiratory Protection Standard

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-27

... respirators (500 and 1000 for protocols 1 and 2, respectively). However, OSHA could not evaluate the results... the values of these descriptive statistics for revised PortaCount[supreg] QNFT protocols 1 (at RFFs of 100 and 500) and 2 (at RFFs of 200 and 1000). Table 2--Descriptive Statistics for RFFs of 100 and 200...

40 CFR 82.9 - Availability of production allowances in addition to baseline production allowances for class I...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... listed in appendix C to this subpart (Parties to the Montreal Protocol) must agree either to transfer to... permitted under the Montreal Protocol or to receive from the person for the current control period some... by the United States to the Secretariat of the Montreal Protocol for an essential use exemption may...

40 CFR 82.9 - Availability of production allowances in addition to baseline production allowances for class I...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... listed in appendix C to this subpart (Parties to the Montreal Protocol) must agree either to transfer to... permitted under the Montreal Protocol or to receive from the person for the current control period some... by the United States to the Secretariat of the Montreal Protocol for an essential use exemption may...

40 CFR 82.18 - Availability of production in addition to baseline production allowances for class II controlled...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... quantity of production that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol or to receive from the... Article 5 allowances, for a specified control period through trades with another Party to the Protocol as... this subpart that is also listed in Appendix C, Annex 1 of the Protocol as having ratified the Beijing...

40 CFR 82.9 - Availability of production allowances in addition to baseline production allowances for class I...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... listed in appendix C to this subpart (Parties to the Montreal Protocol) must agree either to transfer to... permitted under the Montreal Protocol or to receive from the person for the current control period some... by the United States to the Secretariat of the Montreal Protocol for an essential use exemption may...

40 CFR 82.18 - Availability of production in addition to baseline production allowances for class II controlled...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... quantity of production that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol or to receive from the... Article 5 allowances, for a specified control period through trades with another Party to the Protocol as... this subpart that is also listed in Appendix C, Annex 1 of the Protocol as having ratified the Beijing...

40 CFR 82.9 - Availability of production allowances in addition to baseline production allowances for class I...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... listed in appendix C to this subpart (Parties to the Montreal Protocol) must agree either to transfer to... permitted under the Montreal Protocol or to receive from the person for the current control period some... by the United States to the Secretariat of the Montreal Protocol for an essential use exemption may...

40 CFR 82.10 - Availability of consumption allowances in addition to baseline consumption allowances for class I...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... this subpart (Parties to the Montreal Protocol) must agree to transfer to the person for the current control period some amount of production that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol. If the... Protocol for class I, Group I through Group V and Group VII controlled substances until January 1, 1996 and...

40 CFR 82.10 - Availability of consumption allowances in addition to baseline consumption allowances for class I...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... this subpart (Parties to the Montreal Protocol) must agree to transfer to the person for the current control period some amount of production that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol. If the... Protocol for class I, Group I through Group V and Group VII controlled substances until January 1, 1996 and...

40 CFR 82.18 - Availability of production in addition to baseline production allowances for class II controlled...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... quantity of production that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol or to receive from the... Article 5 allowances, for a specified control period through trades with another Party to the Protocol as... this subpart that is also listed in Appendix C, Annex 1 of the Protocol as having ratified the Beijing...

40 CFR 82.10 - Availability of consumption allowances in addition to baseline consumption allowances for class I...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... this subpart (Parties to the Montreal Protocol) must agree to transfer to the person for the current control period some amount of production that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol. If the... Protocol for class I, Group I through Group V and Group VII controlled substances until January 1, 1996 and...

40 CFR 82.10 - Availability of consumption allowances in addition to baseline consumption allowances for class I...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... this subpart (Parties to the Montreal Protocol) must agree to transfer to the person for the current control period some amount of production that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol. If the... Protocol for class I, Group I through Group V and Group VII controlled substances until January 1, 1996 and...

40 CFR 82.18 - Availability of production in addition to baseline production allowances for class II controlled...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... quantity of production that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol or to receive from the... Article 5 allowances, for a specified control period through trades with another Party to the Protocol as... this subpart that is also listed in Appendix C, Annex 1 of the Protocol as having ratified the Beijing...

40 CFR 82.10 - Availability of consumption allowances in addition to baseline consumption allowances for class I...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... this subpart (Parties to the Montreal Protocol) must agree to transfer to the person for the current control period some amount of production that the nation is permitted under the Montreal Protocol. If the... Protocol for class I, Group I through Group V and Group VII controlled substances until January 1, 1996 and...

Obesity/Overweight in Persons With Early and Chronic SCI: A Randomized, Multicenter, Controlled Lifestyle Intervention

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

A.J. Mendez, S.L. Groah, J. Kressler. Fasting plasma glucose values may significantly underestimate prevalence of dysfunctional glycemic regulation in...taken corrective actions without undertaking additional protocol changes. There have been no screening issues since protocol amendments were approved...extending approval for the project through September 9, 2015. Enclosed is the dated/stamped Informed Consent Form, approved for one additional year until

48 CFR 1352.235-70 - Protection of human subjects.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to... subjects research protocol, all questionnaires, surveys, advertisements, and informed consent forms... addition, if the contractor modifies a human subjects research protocol, questionnaire, survey...

48 CFR 1352.235-70 - Protection of human subjects.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to... subjects research protocol, all questionnaires, surveys, advertisements, and informed consent forms... addition, if the contractor modifies a human subjects research protocol, questionnaire, survey...

48 CFR 1352.235-70 - Protection of human subjects.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to... subjects research protocol, all questionnaires, surveys, advertisements, and informed consent forms... addition, if the contractor modifies a human subjects research protocol, questionnaire, survey...

48 CFR 1352.235-70 - Protection of human subjects.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to... subjects research protocol, all questionnaires, surveys, advertisements, and informed consent forms... addition, if the contractor modifies a human subjects research protocol, questionnaire, survey...

Investigation of Interference Models for RFID Systems.

PubMed

Zhang, Linchao; Ferrero, Renato; Gandino, Filippo; Rebaudengo, Maurizio

2016-02-04

The reader-to-reader collision in an RFID system is a challenging problem for communications technology. In order to model the interference between RFID readers, different interference models have been proposed, mainly based on two approaches: single and additive interference. The former only considers the interference from one reader within a certain range, whereas the latter takes into account the sum of all of the simultaneous interferences in order to emulate a more realistic behavior. Although the difference between the two approaches has been theoretically analyzed in previous research, their effects on the estimated performance of the reader-to-reader anti-collision protocols have not yet been investigated. In this paper, the influence of the interference model on the anti-collision protocols is studied by simulating a representative state-of-the-art protocol. The results presented in this paper highlight that the use of additive models, although more computationally intensive, is mandatory to improve the performance of anti-collision protocols.

A Study of Shared-Memory Mutual Exclusion Protocols Using CADP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mateescu, Radu; Serwe, Wendelin

Mutual exclusion protocols are an essential building block of concurrent systems: indeed, such a protocol is required whenever a shared resource has to be protected against concurrent non-atomic accesses. Hence, many variants of mutual exclusion protocols exist in the shared-memory setting, such as Peterson's or Dekker's well-known protocols. Although the functional correctness of these protocols has been studied extensively, relatively little attention has been paid to their non-functional aspects, such as their performance in the long run. In this paper, we report on experiments with the performance evaluation of mutual exclusion protocols using Interactive Markov Chains. Steady-state analysis provides an additional criterion for comparing protocols, which complements the verification of their functional properties. We also carefully re-examined the functional properties, whose accurate formulation as temporal logic formulas in the action-based setting turns out to be quite involved.

Protocol for Uniformly Measuring and Expressing the Performance of Energy Storage Systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Conover, David R.; Crawford, Aladsair J.; Viswanathan, Vilayanur V.

2014-06-01

The Protocol for Uniformly Measuring and Expressing the Performance of Energy Storage Systems (PNNL-22010) was first issued in November 2012 as a first step toward providing a foundational basis for developing an initial standard for the uniform measurement and expression of energy storage system (ESS) performance. Its subsequent use in the field and review by the protocol working group and most importantly the users’ subgroup and the thermal subgroup has led to the fundamental modifications reflected in this update of the 2012 Protocol. As an update of the 2012 Protocol, this document (the June 2014 Protocol) is intended to supersedemore » its predecessor and be used as the basis for measuring and expressing ESS performance. The foreword provides general and specific details about what additions, revisions, and enhancements have been made to the 2012 Protocol and the rationale for them in arriving at the June 2014 Protocol.« less

How Understanding the Role of an Additive Can Lead to an Improved Synthetic Protocol without an Additive: Organocatalytic Synthesis of Chiral Diarylmethyl Alkynes.

PubMed

Chen, Min; Sun, Jianwei

2017-09-18

The use of additives for organic synthesis has become a common tactic to improve the outcome of organic reactions. Herein, by using an organocatalytic process for the synthesis of chiral diarylmethyl alkynes as a platform, we describe how an additive is involved in the improvement of the process. The evolution of an excellent synthetic protocol has been achieved in three stages, from 1) initially no catalyst turnover, to 2) good conversion and enantioselectivity with a superior additive, and eventually 3) even better efficiency and selectivity without an additive. This study is an important and rare demonstration that understanding the role of additive can be so beneficial as to obviate the need for the additive. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Comparing Phytophthora ramorum diagnostic protocols for the national Sudden Oak death stream monitoring program

Treesearch

W. Sutton; E.M. Hansen; P. Reeser; A. Kanaskie

2008-01-01

Oregon was a participant in the pilot test of the national stream monitoring protocol for SOD. We routinely and continuously monitor about 50 streams in and near the SOD quarantine area in southwest Oregon using foliage baits. For the national protocol, we added six additional streams beyond the area of known infestation, and compared results from different diagnostic...

An Enhanced Biometric Based Authentication with Key-Agreement Protocol for Multi-Server Architecture Based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography.

PubMed

Reddy, Alavalapati Goutham; Das, Ashok Kumar; Odelu, Vanga; Yoo, Kee-Young

2016-01-01

Biometric based authentication protocols for multi-server architectures have gained momentum in recent times due to advancements in wireless technologies and associated constraints. Lu et al. recently proposed a robust biometric based authentication with key agreement protocol for a multi-server environment using smart cards. They claimed that their protocol is efficient and resistant to prominent security attacks. The careful investigation of this paper proves that Lu et al.'s protocol does not provide user anonymity, perfect forward secrecy and is susceptible to server and user impersonation attacks, man-in-middle attacks and clock synchronization problems. In addition, this paper proposes an enhanced biometric based authentication with key-agreement protocol for multi-server architecture based on elliptic curve cryptography using smartcards. We proved that the proposed protocol achieves mutual authentication using Burrows-Abadi-Needham (BAN) logic. The formal security of the proposed protocol is verified using the AVISPA (Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications) tool to show that our protocol can withstand active and passive attacks. The formal and informal security analyses and performance analysis demonstrates that the proposed protocol is robust and efficient compared to Lu et al.'s protocol and existing similar protocols.

A Survey on Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network Routing Protocols.

PubMed

Li, Ning; Martínez, José-Fernán; Meneses Chaus, Juan Manuel; Eckert, Martina

2016-03-22

Underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) have become more and more important in ocean exploration applications, such as ocean monitoring, pollution detection, ocean resource management, underwater device maintenance, etc. In underwater acoustic sensor networks, since the routing protocol guarantees reliable and effective data transmission from the source node to the destination node, routing protocol design is an attractive topic for researchers. There are many routing algorithms have been proposed in recent years. To present the current state of development of UASN routing protocols, we review herein the UASN routing protocol designs reported in recent years. In this paper, all the routing protocols have been classified into different groups according to their characteristics and routing algorithms, such as the non-cross-layer design routing protocol, the traditional cross-layer design routing protocol, and the intelligent algorithm based routing protocol. This is also the first paper that introduces intelligent algorithm-based UASN routing protocols. In addition, in this paper, we investigate the development trends of UASN routing protocols, which can provide researchers with clear and direct insights for further research.

A Survey on Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network Routing Protocols

PubMed Central

Li, Ning; Martínez, José-Fernán; Meneses Chaus, Juan Manuel; Eckert, Martina

2016-01-01

Underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) have become more and more important in ocean exploration applications, such as ocean monitoring, pollution detection, ocean resource management, underwater device maintenance, etc. In underwater acoustic sensor networks, since the routing protocol guarantees reliable and effective data transmission from the source node to the destination node, routing protocol design is an attractive topic for researchers. There are many routing algorithms have been proposed in recent years. To present the current state of development of UASN routing protocols, we review herein the UASN routing protocol designs reported in recent years. In this paper, all the routing protocols have been classified into different groups according to their characteristics and routing algorithms, such as the non-cross-layer design routing protocol, the traditional cross-layer design routing protocol, and the intelligent algorithm based routing protocol. This is also the first paper that introduces intelligent algorithm-based UASN routing protocols. In addition, in this paper, we investigate the development trends of UASN routing protocols, which can provide researchers with clear and direct insights for further research. PMID:27011193

Dual sensory loss: development of a dual sensory loss protocol and design of a randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Dual sensory loss (DSL) has a negative impact on health and wellbeing and its prevalence is expected to increase due to demographic aging. However, specialized care or rehabilitation programs for DSL are scarce. Until now, low vision rehabilitation does not sufficiently target concurrent impairments in vision and hearing. This study aims to 1) develop a DSL protocol (for occupational therapists working in low vision rehabilitation) which focuses on optimal use of the senses and teaches DSL patients and their communication partners to use effective communication strategies, and 2) describe the multicenter parallel randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the DSL protocol. Methods/design To develop a DSL protocol, literature was reviewed and content was discussed with professionals in eye/ear care (interviews/focus groups) and DSL patients (interviews). A pilot study was conducted to test and confirm the DSL protocol. In addition, a two-armed international multi-center RCT will evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the DSL protocol compared to waiting list controls, in 124 patients in low vision rehabilitation centers in the Netherlands and Belgium. Discussion This study provides a treatment protocol for rehabilitation of DSL within low vision rehabilitation, which aims to be a valuable addition to the general low vision rehabilitation care. Trial registration Netherlands Trial Register (NTR) identifier: NTR2843 PMID:23941667

Report on July 2015 Additional Protocol Coordinators Best Practices Workshop

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gitau, Ernest T.N.; Burbank, Roberta L.; Finch, Valerie A.

After 10 years of implementation experience, the Office of Nonproliferation and Arms Control (NPAC) within the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) conducted the Additional Protocol (AP) Coordinators Best Practices Workshop at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from July 29-30, 2015. The goal of this workshop was to identify implementation best practices, lessons learned, and compliance challenges from the various Additional Protocol Coordinators (APCs) at each laboratory in the DOE/NNSA complex and associated sites. The workshop provided the opportunity for participants to share their insights and establish networks that APCs can utilize to continue to discuss challenges (new and old),more » identify best practices, and enhance communication and coordination for reporting multi-lab research projects during review activities. Workshop participants included DOE/NNSA HQ, laboratory and site APCs, seasoned experts, members of the original implementation outreach team, and Field Element and site security representatives.« less

Differentiation of urinary calculi with dual energy CT: effect of spectral shaping by high energy tin filtration.

PubMed

Thomas, Christoph; Krauss, Bernhard; Ketelsen, Dominik; Tsiflikas, Ilias; Reimann, Anja; Werner, Matthias; Schilling, David; Hennenlotter, Jörg; Claussen, Claus D; Schlemmer, Heinz-Peter; Heuschmid, Martin

2010-07-01

In dual energy (DE) computed tomography (CT), spectral shaping by additional filtration of the high energy spectrum can theoretically improve dual energy contrast. The aim of this in vitro study was to examine the influence of an additional tin filter for the differentiation of human urinary calculi by dual energy CT. A total of 36 pure human urinary calculi (uric acid, cystine, calciumoxalate monohydrate, calciumoxalate dihydrate, carbonatapatite, brushite, average diameter 10.5 mm) were placed in a phantom and imaged with 2 dual source CT scanners. One scanner was equipped with an additional tin (Sn) filter. Different combinations of tube voltages (140/80 kV, 140/100 kV, Sn140/100 kV, Sn140/80 kV, with Sn140 referring to 140 kV with the tin filter) were applied. Tube currents were adapted to yield comparable dose indices. Low- and high energy images were reconstructed. The calculi were segmented semiautomatically in the datasets and DE ratios (attenuation@low_kV/attenuation@high_kV) and were calculated for each calculus. DE contrasts (DE-ratio_material1/DE-ratio_material2) were computed for uric acid, cystine and calcified calculi and compared between the combinations of tube voltages. Using exclusively DE ratios, all uric acid, cystine and calcified calculi (as a group) could be differentiated in all protocols; the calcified calculi could not be differentiated among each other in any examination protocol. The highest DE ratios and DE contrasts were measured for the Sn140/80 protocol (53%-62% higher DE contrast than in the 140/80 kV protocol without additional filtration). The DE ratios and DE contrasts of the 80/140 kV and 100/Sn140 kV protocols were comparable. Uric acid, cystine and calcified calculi could be reliably differentiated by any of the protocols. A dose-neutral gain of DE contrast was found in the Sn-filter protocols, which might improve the differentiation of smaller calculi (Sn140/80 kV) and improve image quality and calculi differentiation in larger patients (Sn140/100 kV). However, even with the improved spectral separation of the Sn-filter protocols, the DE ratios of calcified calculi are not sufficiently distinct to allow a differentiation within this group.

A Generalized Model of E-trading for GSR Fair Exchange Protocol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konar, Debajyoti; Mazumdar, Chandan

In this paper we propose a generalized model of E-trading for the development of GSR Fair Exchange Protocols. Based on the model, a method is narrated to implement E-trading protocols that ensure fairness in true sense without using an additional trusted third party for which either party has to pay. The model provides the scope to include the correctness of the product, money atomicity and customer's anonymity properties within E-trading protocol. We conclude this paper by indicating the area of applicability for our model.

Draft Plan to Develop Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring Test Protocols

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mayhorn, Ebony T.; Sullivan, Greg P.; Petersen, Joseph M.

2015-09-29

This document presents a Draft Plan proposed to develop a common test protocol that can be used to evaluate the performance requirements of Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring. Development on the test protocol will be focused on providing a consistent method that can be used to quantify and compare the performance characteristics of NILM products. Elements of the protocols include specifications for appliances to be used, metrics, instrumentation, and a procedure to simulate appliance behavior during tests. In addition, three priority use cases for NILM will be identified and their performance requirements will specified.

Impact of a pharmacist-driven warfarin management protocol on achieving therapeutic International Normalized Ratios.

PubMed

Downing, Amanda; Mortimer, Molly; Hiers, Jill

2016-03-01

Warfarin is a high alert medication and a challenge to dose and monitor. Pharmacist-driven warfarin management has been shown to decrease the time international normalized ratio (INR) is out of range, which may reduce undesired outcomes. The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of the implementation of a pharmacist-driven warfarin management protocol on the achievement of therapeutic INRs. A warfarin management protocol was developed using evidence based literature and similar protocols from other institutions. Pharmacists utilized the protocol to provide patient specific warfarin dosing upon provider referral. To evaluate the protocol's impact, a retrospective chart review pre- and post-implementation was completed for admitted patients receiving warfarin. Three hundred twenty-seven charts were reviewed for pre- and post-implementation data. INRs within therapeutic range increased from 27.8% before protocol implementation to 38.5% after implementation. There was also a reduction in subtherapeutic INRs (55.3% pre to 39% post) and supratherapeutic INRs 5 or above (3.7% pre to 2.6% post). Supratherapeutic INRs between 3 and 5 did increase from 13.2% before protocol implementation to 19.9% in the pharmacist managed group. In addition to reducing the time to achievement of therapeutic INRs by 0.5 days, implementation of the protocol resulted in an increased the number of patients with at least one therapeutic INR during admission (35% pre to 40% post). The implementation of a pharmacist-driven warfarin dosing protocol increased therapeutic INRs, and decreased the time to therapeutic range, as well as the proportion of subtherapeutic INRs and supratherapeutic INRs 5 or greater. Additional benefits of the protocol include documentation of Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goal compliance, promotion of interdisciplinary collaboration and increased continuity of care. Copyright © 2016 by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of a bedside viable ultrasound protocol to quantify appendicular lean tissue mass.

PubMed

Paris, Michael T; Lafleur, Benoit; Dubin, Joel A; Mourtzakis, Marina

2017-10-01

Ultrasound is a non-invasive and readily available tool that can be prospectively applied at the bedside to assess muscle mass in clinical settings. The four-site protocol, which images two anatomical sites on each quadriceps, may be a viable bedside method, but its ability to predict musculature has not been compared against whole-body reference methods. Our primary objectives were to (i) compare the four-site protocol's ability to predict appendicular lean tissue mass from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; (ii) optimize the predictability of the four-site protocol with additional anatomical muscle thicknesses and easily obtained covariates; and (iii) assess the ability of the optimized protocol to identify individuals with low lean tissue mass. This observational cross-sectional study recruited 96 university and community dwelling adults. Participants underwent ultrasound scans for assessment of muscle thickness and whole-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans for assessment of appendicular lean tissue. Ultrasound protocols included (i) the nine-site protocol, which images nine anterior and posterior muscle groups in supine and prone positions, and (ii) the four-site protocol, which images two anterior sites on each quadriceps muscle group in a supine position. The four-site protocol was strongly associated (R 2  = 0.72) with appendicular lean tissue mass, but Bland-Altman analysis displayed wide limits of agreement (-5.67, 5.67 kg). Incorporating the anterior upper arm muscle thickness, and covariates age and sex, alongside the four-site protocol, improved the association (R 2  = 0.91) with appendicular lean tissue and displayed narrower limits of agreement (-3.18, 3.18 kg). The optimized protocol demonstrated a strong ability to identify low lean tissue mass (area under the curve = 0.89). The four-site protocol can be improved with the addition of the anterior upper arm muscle thickness, sex, and age when predicting appendicular lean tissue mass. This optimized protocol can accurately identify low lean tissue mass, while still being easily applied at the bedside. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the Society on Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Disorders.

Development of a bedside viable ultrasound protocol to quantify appendicular lean tissue mass

PubMed Central

Paris, Michael T.; Lafleur, Benoit; Dubin, Joel A.

2017-01-01

Abstract Background Ultrasound is a non‐invasive and readily available tool that can be prospectively applied at the bedside to assess muscle mass in clinical settings. The four‐site protocol, which images two anatomical sites on each quadriceps, may be a viable bedside method, but its ability to predict musculature has not been compared against whole‐body reference methods. Our primary objectives were to (i) compare the four‐site protocol's ability to predict appendicular lean tissue mass from dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry; (ii) optimize the predictability of the four‐site protocol with additional anatomical muscle thicknesses and easily obtained covariates; and (iii) assess the ability of the optimized protocol to identify individuals with low lean tissue mass. Methods This observational cross‐sectional study recruited 96 university and community dwelling adults. Participants underwent ultrasound scans for assessment of muscle thickness and whole‐body dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry scans for assessment of appendicular lean tissue. Ultrasound protocols included (i) the nine‐site protocol, which images nine anterior and posterior muscle groups in supine and prone positions, and (ii) the four‐site protocol, which images two anterior sites on each quadriceps muscle group in a supine position. Results The four‐site protocol was strongly associated (R 2 = 0.72) with appendicular lean tissue mass, but Bland–Altman analysis displayed wide limits of agreement (−5.67, 5.67 kg). Incorporating the anterior upper arm muscle thickness, and covariates age and sex, alongside the four‐site protocol, improved the association (R 2 = 0.91) with appendicular lean tissue and displayed narrower limits of agreement (−3.18, 3.18 kg). The optimized protocol demonstrated a strong ability to identify low lean tissue mass (area under the curve = 0.89). Conclusions The four‐site protocol can be improved with the addition of the anterior upper arm muscle thickness, sex, and age when predicting appendicular lean tissue mass. This optimized protocol can accurately identify low lean tissue mass, while still being easily applied at the bedside. PMID:28722298

Heavy vehicle driver workload assessment. Task 1, task analysis data and protocols review

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

This report contains a review of available task analytic data and protocols pertinent to heavy vehicle operation and determination of the availability and relevance of such data to heavy vehicle driver workload assessment. Additionally, a preliminary...

Efficacy of Multimodal Pain Control Protocol in the Setting of Total Hip Arthroplasty

PubMed Central

Lee, Kyung-Jae; Bae, Ki-Cheor; Cho, Chul-Hyun; Kwon, Doo-Hyun

2009-01-01

Background This study evaluated the benefits and safety of a multimodal pain control protocol, which included a periarticular injection of local anesthetics, in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty. Methods Between March 2006 and March 2007, 60 patients undergoing unilateral total hip arthroplasty were randomized to undergo either a multimodal pain control protocol or a conventional pain control protocol. The following parameters were compared: the preoperative and postoperative visual analogue scales (VAS), hospital stay, operative time, postoperative rehabilitation, additional painkiller consumption, and complication rates. Results There was no difference between the groups in terms of diagnosis, age, gender, and BMI. Although both groups had similar VAS scores in the preoperative period and on the fifth postoperative day, there was a significant difference between the groups over the four-day period after surgery. There were no differences in the hospital stay, operative time, additional painkiller consumption, or complication rate between the groups. The average time for comfortable crutch ambulation was 2.8 days in the multimodal pain control protocol group and 5.3 days in the control group. Conclusions The multimodal pain control protocol can significantly reduce the level of postoperative pain and improve patients' satisfaction, with no apparent risks, after total hip arthroplasty. PMID:19885051

Protocol for a Delay-Tolerant Data-Communication Network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Torgerson, Jordan; Hooke, Adrian; Burleigh, Scott; Fall, Kevin

2004-01-01

As its name partly indicates, the Delay-Tolerant Networking (DTN) Bundle Protocol is a protocol for delay-tolerant transmission of data via communication networks. This protocol was conceived as a result of studies of how to adapt Internet protocols so that Internet-like services could be provided across interplanetary distances in support of deep-space exploration. The protocol, and software to implement the protocol, is being developed in collaboration among experts at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other institutions. No current Internet protocols can accommodate long transmission delay times or intermittent link connectivity. The DTN Bundle Protocol represents a departure from the standard Internet assumption that a continuous path is available from a host computer to a client computer: It provides for routing of data through networks that may be disjointed and may be characterized by long transmission delays. In addition to networks that include deepspace communication links, examples of such networks include terrestrial ones within which branches are temporarily disconnected. The protocol is based partly on the definition of a message-based overlay above the transport layers of the networks on which it is hosted.

Evaluating anesthetic protocols for functional blood flow imaging in the rat eye

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moult, Eric M.; Choi, WooJhon; Boas, David A.; Baumann, Bernhard; Clermont, Allen C.; Feener, Edward P.; Fujimoto, James G.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the suitability of five different anesthetic protocols (isoflurane, isoflurane-xylazine, pentobarbital, ketamine-xylazine, and ketamine-xylazine-vecuronium) for functional blood flow imaging in the rat eye. Total retinal blood flow was measured at a series of time points using an ultrahigh-speed Doppler OCT system. Additionally, each anesthetic protocol was qualitatively evaluated according to the following criteria: (1) time-stability of blood flow, (2) overall rate of blood flow, (3) ocular immobilization, and (4) simplicity. We observed that different anesthetic protocols produced markedly different blood flows. Different anesthetic protocols also varied with respect to the four evaluated criteria. These findings suggest that the choice of anesthetic protocol should be carefully considered when designing and interpreting functional blood flow studies in the rat eye.

A Weak Value Based QKD Protocol Robust Against Detector Attacks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Troupe, James

2015-03-01

We propose a variation of the BB84 quantum key distribution protocol that utilizes the properties of weak values to insure the validity of the quantum bit error rate estimates used to detect an eavesdropper. The protocol is shown theoretically to be secure against recently demonstrated attacks utilizing detector blinding and control and should also be robust against all detector based hacking. Importantly, the new protocol promises to achieve this additional security without negatively impacting the secure key generation rate as compared to that originally promised by the standard BB84 scheme. Implementation of the weak measurements needed by the protocol should be very feasible using standard quantum optical techniques.

Microwave Protocols for Paraffin Microtechnique and In Situ Localization in Plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schichnes, Denise; Nemson, Jeff; Sohlberg, Lorraine; Ruzin, Steven E.

1998-10-01

: We have developed a microwave protocol for a paraffin-embedding microtechnique of the shoot apical meristem of ZEA MAYS and have successfully applied this protocol to other plant tissues. This protocol decreases the time required for all aspects of microtechnique tissue processing, including fixation (24 hr to 15 min), dehydration (73 hr to 10 min), and infiltration (96 hr to 3 hr). Additionally, the time required to adhere paraffin ribbons to gelatin-coated slides and for the Johanson's safranin O, fast green FCF staining protocol has been significantly decreased. Using this technique, the quality of tissue preservation and subsequent in situ localization of KNOTTED mRNA was increased by using microwaves.

The impact of the Family Communication Coordinator (FCC) Protocol on the role stress of hospital chaplains.

PubMed

Dodd-McCue, Diane; Tartaglia, Alexander

2005-01-01

The Family Communication Coordinator (FCC) Protocol was implemented to provide early family intervention and to facilitate effective communications during potential organ donation cases. Previous studies found the Protocol associated with improved donor outcome measures and with reduced role stress for ICU nurses caring for potential donors. The present study examines the impact of the Protocol on the perceived role stress of hospital chaplains serving as FCCs. All hospital chaplains serving as FCCs at an academic teaching hospital were surveyed. Their perceptions of job dimensions, role stress, job satisfaction, and commitment were measured; interviews and secondary data supplemented the surveys. The findings demonstrate that the FCC Protocol is associated with improved role stress, specifically role ambiguity and role conflict, among hospital chaplains serving as FCCs. Additionally, the findings suggest that satisfaction with the Protocol may be associated with experience with the Protocol.

40 CFR 82.18 - Availability of production in addition to baseline production allowances for class II controlled...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... permitted under the Montreal Protocol or to receive from the person for the current control period some... production quantities: (A) The maximum production that the nation is allowed under the Protocol minus the...

The tobacco industry’s thwarting of marketing restrictions and health warnings in Lebanon

PubMed Central

Nakkash, R; Lee, K

2009-01-01

Aims: This article outlines how the tobacco industry has undermined tobacco control efforts in Lebanon since the early 1970s. Methods: An analysis of online and on-site tobacco industry documents, reviews of newspapers, policy and other documents, and interviews with key policy makers were conducted. Results: Findings reveal how the weakness of tobacco control legislation in Lebanon has been the product of an effective tobacco industry strategy to weaken the content and scope of regulation, and delay adoption and implementation. Conclusions: The tobacco industry has built and maintained strong alliances that were and are regularly mobilised to effectively oppose regulation. Despite ratification of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005, Lebanon's tobacco control track remains weak. Public health professionals and the government should work hard to oppose such tobacco industry tactics. PMID:19633145

On a Romanian attempt to legislate on medically assisted human reproduction.

PubMed

Cutas, Daniela E

2008-01-01

The paper presents and briefly analyses some of the provisions of a Romanian legislative proposal which arrived at the Presidency for ratification twice, in slightly different forms, and which was rejected twice: the first time at the Presidency in October 2004, and the second at the Constitutional Court in July 2005. The proposal was finally dropped in February 2006. My intention here is to point to some of the most problematic deficiencies of the legislative document in the hope that this may assist with future debates and regulations on assisted reproduction either in Romania or elsewhere. I have isolated the features to be discussed under two headings: (1) whose are the rights to reproduce, that the document claimed to 'acknowledge, regulate and guarantee' and (2) what is the status of the embryo, the child and the surrogate mother?

Issues for Future Nuclear Arms Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, Jay

2011-04-01

Ratification of the New START treaty may open the door to a path of progressive negotiations that could lead to systematic reduction of the numbers of deployed and reserve nuclear weapons. Those negotiations will require more than merely resolving technical, operational and policy questions. Their success will also demand adding successively larger numbers of partners and the building of trust among parties who have not been involved in such agreements before. At some point, questions of conventional arms limitations and larger confidence building steps will inevitably arise. Jay Davis, who last year chaired an APS/POPA study of technology issues for future nuclear arms control agreements, will outline the path, opportunities, and obstacles that lie ahead. Davis was an UNSCOM inspector in Iraq after the First Gulf War and the first director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Agreement governing the activities of states on the Moon and other celestial bodies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gaggero, E. D.; Ripoll, R. P.

1981-01-01

The treaty on the Moon is not revolutionary but it embodies the legal rule for future activities of man on the Moon as opposed to the Space Treaty of 1967 which was too general. The new text is conservative but still allows some room for the developing States as in the law of the sea. The Moon is declared the "Common Heritage of Mankind" but the regime of exploitation of its resources is still blurred with imprecise guidelines still needing to be developed. The two superpowers cannot as in the past, ignore the rest of the world in the conquest of space and the fact that the U.N. is the depositary for ratifications, and not the two superpowers as in previous treaties, is the first sign of wider participation in the creation of Space Law.

[Neurobiología y psicoanálisis].

PubMed

Rosler, J Roberto

2002-01-01

There would be a conceptual bridge between Psychoanalysis and the Neurosciences that would allow the translation of psychoanalytic concepts into neural mechanisms and vice-versa. Different Freudian postulates, such as that different types of anxiety would emerge from various cerebral interactions, the motivational regulatory functions of the impulse, the conscious emotion as the perception of something basically unconscious, the mechanism of repression in the traumatic memory, the existence of a system associated with the unconscious affective processes and regulated by the principle of pleasure - displeasure, the emotional representation as a basis of the more primitive cerebral structures, and the Oedipo complex, among others, are finding their biological ratification in different laboratory studies. This conceptual bridge would not only be a "Psychoanalysis-Neurobiological mechanisms" translator, but would also, through the integrated conceptualization of the psychoanalytical neurobiological aspects of emotion, generate relevant therapeutic models.

The tobacco industry's thwarting of marketing restrictions and health warnings in Lebanon.

PubMed

Nakkash, R; Lee, K

2009-08-01

This article outlines how the tobacco industry has undermined tobacco control efforts in Lebanon since the early 1970s. An analysis of online and on-site tobacco industry documents, reviews of newspapers, policy and other documents, and interviews with key policy makers were conducted. Findings reveal how the weakness of tobacco control legislation in Lebanon has been the product of an effective tobacco industry strategy to weaken the content and scope of regulation, and delay adoption and implementation. The tobacco industry has built and maintained strong alliances that were and are regularly mobilised to effectively oppose regulation. Despite ratification of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005, Lebanon's tobacco control track remains weak. Public health professionals and the government should work hard to oppose such tobacco industry tactics.

An Enhanced Biometric Based Authentication with Key-Agreement Protocol for Multi-Server Architecture Based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography

PubMed Central

Reddy, Alavalapati Goutham; Das, Ashok Kumar; Odelu, Vanga; Yoo, Kee-Young

2016-01-01

Biometric based authentication protocols for multi-server architectures have gained momentum in recent times due to advancements in wireless technologies and associated constraints. Lu et al. recently proposed a robust biometric based authentication with key agreement protocol for a multi-server environment using smart cards. They claimed that their protocol is efficient and resistant to prominent security attacks. The careful investigation of this paper proves that Lu et al.’s protocol does not provide user anonymity, perfect forward secrecy and is susceptible to server and user impersonation attacks, man-in-middle attacks and clock synchronization problems. In addition, this paper proposes an enhanced biometric based authentication with key-agreement protocol for multi-server architecture based on elliptic curve cryptography using smartcards. We proved that the proposed protocol achieves mutual authentication using Burrows-Abadi-Needham (BAN) logic. The formal security of the proposed protocol is verified using the AVISPA (Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications) tool to show that our protocol can withstand active and passive attacks. The formal and informal security analyses and performance analysis demonstrates that the proposed protocol is robust and efficient compared to Lu et al.’s protocol and existing similar protocols. PMID:27163786

Internet-Protocol-Based Satellite Bus Architecture Designed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slywczak, Richard A.

2004-01-01

NASA is designing future complex satellite missions ranging from single satellites and constellations to space networks and sensor webs. These missions require more interoperability, autonomy, and coordination than previous missions; in addition, a desire exists to have scientists retrieve data directly from the satellite rather than a central distribution source. To meet these goals, NASA has been studying the possibility of extending the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite for spacebased applications.

Broadening and Simplifying the First SETI Protocol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michaud, M. A. G.

The Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence, known informally as the First SETI Protocol, is the primary existing international guidance on this subject. During the fifteen years since the document was issued, several people have suggested revisions or additional protocols. This article proposes a broadened and simplified text that would apply to the detection of alien technology in our solar system as well as to electromagnetic signals from more remote sources.

Efficacy and workload analysis of a fixed vertical couch position technique and a fixed‐action–level protocol in whole‐breast radiotherapy

PubMed Central

Verhoeven, Karolien; Weltens, Caroline; Van den Heuvel, Frank

2015-01-01

Quantification of the setup errors is vital to define appropriate setup margins preventing geographical misses. The no‐action–level (NAL) correction protocol reduces the systematic setup errors and, hence, the setup margins. The manual entry of the setup corrections in the record‐and‐verify software, however, increases the susceptibility of the NAL protocol to human errors. Moreover, the impact of the skin mobility on the anteroposterior patient setup reproducibility in whole‐breast radiotherapy (WBRT) is unknown. In this study, we therefore investigated the potential of fixed vertical couch position‐based patient setup in WBRT. The possibility to introduce a threshold for correction of the systematic setup errors was also explored. We measured the anteroposterior, mediolateral, and superior–inferior setup errors during fractions 1–12 and weekly thereafter with tangential angled single modality paired imaging. These setup data were used to simulate the residual setup errors of the NAL protocol, the fixed vertical couch position protocol, and the fixed‐action–level protocol with different correction thresholds. Population statistics of the setup errors of 20 breast cancer patients and 20 breast cancer patients with additional regional lymph node (LN) irradiation were calculated to determine the setup margins of each off‐line correction protocol. Our data showed the potential of the fixed vertical couch position protocol to restrict the systematic and random anteroposterior residual setup errors to 1.8 mm and 2.2 mm, respectively. Compared to the NAL protocol, a correction threshold of 2.5 mm reduced the frequency of mediolateral and superior–inferior setup corrections with 40% and 63%, respectively. The implementation of the correction threshold did not deteriorate the accuracy of the off‐line setup correction compared to the NAL protocol. The combination of the fixed vertical couch position protocol, for correction of the anteroposterior setup error, and the fixed‐action–level protocol with 2.5 mm correction threshold, for correction of the mediolateral and the superior–inferior setup errors, was proved to provide adequate and comparable patient setup accuracy in WBRT and WBRT with additional LN irradiation. PACS numbers: 87.53.Kn, 87.57.‐s

IVOA Credential Delegation Protocol Version 1.0

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plante, Raymond; Graham, Matthew; Rixon, Guy; Taffoni, Giuliano; Plante, Raymond; Graham, Matthew

2010-02-01

The credential delegation protocol allows a client program to delegate a user's credentials to a service such that that service may make requests of other services in the name of that user. The protocol defines a REST service that works alongside other IVO services to enable such a delegation in a secure manner. In addition to defining the specifics of the service protocol, this document describes how a delegation service is registered in an IVOA registry along with the services it supports. The specification also explains how one can determine from a service registration that it requires the use of a supporting delegation service.

Addition of senna improves quality of colonoscopy preparation with magnesium citrate.

PubMed

Vradelis, Stergios; Kalaitzakis, Evangelos; Sharifi, Yalda; Buchel, Otto; Keshav, Satish; Chapman, Roger W; Braden, Barbara

2009-04-14

To prospectively investigate the effectiveness and patient's tolerance of two low-cost bowel cleansing preparation protocols based on magnesium citrate only or the combination of magnesium citrate and senna. A total of 342 patients who were referred for colonoscopy underwent a colon cleansing protocol with magnesium citrate alone (n = 160) or magnesium citrate and senna granules (n = 182). The colonoscopist rated the overall efficacy of colon cleansing using an established score on a 4-point scale. Patients were questioned before undergoing colonoscopy for side effects and symptoms during bowel preparation. The percentage of procedures rescheduled because of insufficient colon cleansing was 7% in the magnesium citrate group and 4% in the magnesium citrate/senna group (P = 0.44). Adequate visualization of the colonic mucosa was rated superior under the citramag/senna regimen (P = 0.004). Both regimens were well tolerated, and did not significantly differ in the occurrence of nausea, bloating or headache. However, abdominal cramps were observed more often under the senna protocol (29.2%) compared to the magnesium citrate only protocol (9.9%, P < 0.0003). The addition of senna to the bowel preparation protocol with magnesium citrate significantly improves the cleansing outcome.

Addition of senna improves quality of colonoscopy preparation with magnesium citrate

PubMed Central

Vradelis, Stergios; Kalaitzakis, Evangelos; Sharifi, Yalda; Buchel, Otto; Keshav, Satish; Chapman, Roger W; Braden, Barbara

2009-01-01

AIM: To prospectively investigate the effectiveness and patient’s tolerance of two low-cost bowel cleansing preparation protocols based on magnesium citrate only or the combination of magnesium citrate and senna. METHODS: A total of 342 patients who were referred for colonoscopy underwent a colon cleansing protocol with magnesium citrate alone (n = 160) or magnesium citrate and senna granules (n = 182). The colonoscopist rated the overall efficacy of colon cleansing using an established score on a 4-point scale. Patients were questioned before undergoing colonoscopy for side effects and symptoms during bowel preparation. RESULTS: The percentage of procedures rescheduled because of insufficient colon cleansing was 7% in the magnesium citrate group and 4% in the magnesium citrate/senna group (P = 0.44). Adequate visualization of the colonic mucosa was rated superior under the citramag/senna regimen (P = 0.004). Both regimens were well tolerated, and did not significantly differ in the occurrence of nausea, bloating or headache. However, abdominal cramps were observed more often under the senna protocol (29.2%) compared to the magnesium citrate only protocol (9.9%, P < 0.0003). CONCLUSION: The addition of senna to the bowel preparation protocol with magnesium citrate significantly improves the cleansing outcome. PMID:19360920

OVERVIEW OF UIN/CEC LRTAP PROTOCOLS ON POPS AND HEAVY METALS

EPA Science Inventory

The purpose of this workshop was to review the current state-of-the-science for persistent organic pollutants and heavy metal compounds, especially additional developments since the conclusion of the negotiations of the Protocols on these compounds under the Convention on Long Ra...

21 CFR 660.46 - Samples; protocols; official release.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 7 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Samples; protocols; official release. 660.46 Section 660.46 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) BIOLOGICS ADDITIONAL STANDARDS FOR DIAGNOSTIC SUBSTANCES FOR LABORATORY TESTS Hepatitis B Surface...

Routing Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Villalba, Luis Javier García; Orozco, Ana Lucila Sandoval; Cabrera, Alicia Triviño; Abbas, Cláudia Jacy Barenco

2009-01-01

The applications of wireless sensor networks comprise a wide variety of scenarios. In most of them, the network is composed of a significant number of nodes deployed in an extensive area in which not all nodes are directly connected. Then, the data exchange is supported by multihop communications. Routing protocols are in charge of discovering and maintaining the routes in the network. However, the appropriateness of a particular routing protocol mainly depends on the capabilities of the nodes and on the application requirements. This paper presents a review of the main routing protocols proposed for wireless sensor networks. Additionally, the paper includes the efforts carried out by Spanish universities on developing optimization techniques in the area of routing protocols for wireless sensor networks. PMID:22291515

Quantum cryptography with finite resources: unconditional security bound for discrete-variable protocols with one-way postprocessing.

PubMed

Scarani, Valerio; Renner, Renato

2008-05-23

We derive a bound for the security of quantum key distribution with finite resources under one-way postprocessing, based on a definition of security that is composable and has an operational meaning. While our proof relies on the assumption of collective attacks, unconditional security follows immediately for standard protocols such as Bennett-Brassard 1984 and six-states protocol. For single-qubit implementations of such protocols, we find that the secret key rate becomes positive when at least N approximately 10(5) signals are exchanged and processed. For any other discrete-variable protocol, unconditional security can be obtained using the exponential de Finetti theorem, but the additional overhead leads to very pessimistic estimates.

Routing protocols in wireless sensor networks.

PubMed

Villalba, Luis Javier García; Orozco, Ana Lucila Sandoval; Cabrera, Alicia Triviño; Abbas, Cláudia Jacy Barenco

2009-01-01

The applications of wireless sensor networks comprise a wide variety of scenarios. In most of them, the network is composed of a significant number of nodes deployed in an extensive area in which not all nodes are directly connected. Then, the data exchange is supported by multihop communications. Routing protocols are in charge of discovering and maintaining the routes in the network. However, the appropriateness of a particular routing protocol mainly depends on the capabilities of the nodes and on the application requirements. This paper presents a review of the main routing protocols proposed for wireless sensor networks. Additionally, the paper includes the efforts carried out by Spanish universities on developing optimization techniques in the area of routing protocols for wireless sensor networks.

Simulation Modeling and Performance Evaluation of Space Networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jennings, Esther H.; Segui, John

2006-01-01

In space exploration missions, the coordinated use of spacecraft as communication relays increases the efficiency of the endeavors. To conduct trade-off studies of the performance and resource usage of different communication protocols and network designs, JPL designed a comprehensive extendable tool, the Multi-mission Advanced Communications Hybrid Environment for Test and Evaluation (MACHETE). The design and development of MACHETE began in 2000 and is constantly evolving. Currently, MACHETE contains Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) protocol standards such as Proximity-1, Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS), Packet Telemetry/Telecommand, Space Communications Protocol Specification (SCPS), and the CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP). MACHETE uses the Aerospace Corporation s Satellite Orbital Analysis Program (SOAP) to generate the orbital geometry information and contact opportunities. Matlab scripts provide the link characteristics. At the core of MACHETE is a discrete event simulator, QualNet. Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) is an end-to-end architecture providing communication in and/or through highly stressed networking environments. Stressed networking environments include those with intermittent connectivity, large and/or variable delays, and high bit error rates. To provide its services, the DTN protocols reside at the application layer of the constituent internets, forming a store-and-forward overlay network. The key capabilities of the bundling protocols include custody-based reliability, ability to cope with intermittent connectivity, ability to take advantage of scheduled and opportunistic connectivity, and late binding of names to addresses. In this presentation, we report on the addition of MACHETE models needed to support DTN, namely: the Bundle Protocol (BP) model. To illustrate the use of MACHETE with the additional DTN model, we provide an example simulation to benchmark its performance. We demonstrate the use of the DTN protocol and discuss statistics gathered concerning the total time needed to simulate numerous bundle transmissions

Reliable WDM multicast in optical burst-switched networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeong, Myoungki; Qiao, Chunming; Xiong, Yijun

2000-09-01

IN this paper,l we present a reliable WDM (Wavelength-Division Multiplexing) multicast protocol in optical burst-switched (OBS) networks. Since the burst dropping (loss) probability may be potentially high in a heavily loaded OBS backbone network, reliable multicast protocols that have developed for IP networks at the transport (or application) layer may incur heavy overheads such as a large number of duplicate retransmissions. In addition, it may take a longer time for an end host to detect and then recover from burst dropping (loss) occurred at the WDM layer. For efficiency reasons, we propose burst loss recovery within the OBS backbone (i.e., at the WDM link layer). The proposed protocol requires two additional functions to be performed by the WDM switch controller: subcasting and maintaining burst states, when the WDM switch has more than one downstream on the WDM multicast tree. We show that these additional functions are simple to implement and the overhead associated with them is manageable.

NGSI student activities in open source information analysis in support of the training program of the U.S. DOE laboratories for the entry into force of the additional protocol

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sandoval, M Analisa; Uribe, Eva C; Sandoval, Marisa N

2009-01-01

In 2008 a joint team from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) consisting of specialists in training of IAEA inspectors in the use of complementary access activities formulated a training program to prepare the U.S. Doe laboratories for the entry into force of the Additional Protocol. As a major part of the support of the activity, LANL summer interns provided open source information analysis to the LANL-BNL mock inspection team. They were a part of the Next Generation Safeguards Initiative's (NGSI) summer intern program aimed at producing the next generation of safeguards specialists. This paper describesmore » how they used open source information to 'backstop' the LANL-BNL team's effort to construct meaningful Additional Protocol Complementary Access training scenarios for each of the three DOE laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.« less

Small-molecule ligand docking into comparative models with Rosetta

PubMed Central

Combs, Steven A; DeLuca, Samuel L; DeLuca, Stephanie H; Lemmon, Gordon H; Nannemann, David P; Nguyen, Elizabeth D; Willis, Jordan R; Sheehan, Jonathan H; Meiler, Jens

2017-01-01

Structure-based drug design is frequently used to accelerate the development of small-molecule therapeutics. Although substantial progress has been made in X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, the availability of high-resolution structures is limited owing to the frequent inability to crystallize or obtain sufficient NMR restraints for large or flexible proteins. Computational methods can be used to both predict unknown protein structures and model ligand interactions when experimental data are unavailable. This paper describes a comprehensive and detailed protocol using the Rosetta modeling suite to dock small-molecule ligands into comparative models. In the protocol presented here, we review the comparative modeling process, including sequence alignment, threading and loop building. Next, we cover docking a small-molecule ligand into the protein comparative model. In addition, we discuss criteria that can improve ligand docking into comparative models. Finally, and importantly, we present a strategy for assessing model quality. The entire protocol is presented on a single example selected solely for didactic purposes. The results are therefore not representative and do not replace benchmarks published elsewhere. We also provide an additional tutorial so that the user can gain hands-on experience in using Rosetta. The protocol should take 5–7 h, with additional time allocated for computer generation of models. PMID:23744289

MR efficiency using automated MRI-desktop eProtocol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Fei; Xu, Yanzhe; Panda, Anshuman; Zhang, Min; Hanson, James; Su, Congzhe; Wu, Teresa; Pavlicek, William; James, Judy R.

2017-03-01

MRI protocols are instruction sheets that radiology technologists use in routine clinical practice for guidance (e.g., slice position, acquisition parameters etc.). In Mayo Clinic Arizona (MCA), there are over 900 MR protocols (ranging across neuro, body, cardiac, breast etc.) which makes maintaining and updating the protocol instructions a labor intensive effort. The task is even more challenging given different vendors (Siemens, GE etc.). This is a universal problem faced by all the hospitals and/or medical research institutions. To increase the efficiency of the MR practice, we designed and implemented a web-based platform (eProtocol) to automate the management of MRI protocols. It is built upon a database that automatically extracts protocol information from DICOM compliant images and provides a user-friendly interface to the technologists to create, edit and update the protocols. Advanced operations such as protocol migrations from scanner to scanner and capability to upload Multimedia content were also implemented. To the best of our knowledge, eProtocol is the first MR protocol automated management tool used clinically. It is expected that this platform will significantly improve the radiology operations efficiency including better image quality and exam consistency, fewer repeat examinations and less acquisition errors. These protocols instructions will be readily available to the technologists during scans. In addition, this web-based platform can be extended to other imaging modalities such as CT, Mammography, and Interventional Radiology and different vendors for imaging protocol management.

Field validation of protocols developed to evaluate in-line mastitis detection systems.

PubMed

Kamphuis, C; Dela Rue, B T; Eastwood, C R

2016-02-01

This paper reports on a field validation of previously developed protocols for evaluating the performance of in-line mastitis-detection systems. The protocols outlined 2 requirements of these systems: (1) to detect cows with clinical mastitis (CM) promptly and accurately to enable timely and appropriate treatment and (2) to identify cows with high somatic cell count (SCC) to manage bulk milk SCC levels. Gold standard measures, evaluation tests, performance measures, and performance targets were proposed. The current study validated the protocols on commercial dairy farms with automated in-line mastitis-detection systems using both electrical conductivity (EC) and SCC sensor systems that both monitor at whole-udder level. The protocol for requirement 1 was applied on 3 commercial farms. For requirement 2, the protocol was applied on 6 farms; 3 of them had low bulk milk SCC (128×10(3) cells/mL) and were the same farms as used for field evaluation of requirement 1. Three farms with high bulk milk SCC (270×10(3) cells/mL) were additionally enrolled. The field evaluation methodology and results were presented at a workshop including representation from 7 international suppliers of in-line mastitis-detection systems. Feedback was sought on the acceptance of standardized performance evaluation protocols and recommended refinements to the protocols. Although the methodology for requirement 1 was relatively labor intensive and required organizational skills over an extended period, no major issues were encountered during the field validation of both protocols. The validation, thus, proved the protocols to be practical. Also, no changes to the data collection process were recommended by the technology supplier representatives. However, 4 recommendations were made to refine the protocols: inclusion of an additional analysis that ignores small (low-density) clot observations in the definition of CM, extension of the time window from 4 to 5 milkings for timely alerts for CM, setting a maximum number of 10 milkings for the time window to detect a CM episode, and presentation of sensitivity for a larger range of false alerts per 1,000 milkings replacing minimum performance targets. The recommended refinements are discussed with suggested changes to the original protocols. The information presented is intended to inform further debate toward achieving international agreement on standard protocols to evaluate performance of in-line mastitis-detection systems. Copyright © 2016 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Isolated cleft palate requires different surgical protocols depending on cleft type.

PubMed

Elander, Anna; Persson, Christina; Lilja, Jan; Mark, Hans

2017-08-01

A staged protocol for isolated cleft palate (CPO), comprising the early repair of the soft palate at 6 months and delayed repair of the eventual cleft in the hard palate until 4 years, designed to improve maxillary growth, was introduced. CPO is frequently associated with additional congenital conditions. The study evaluates this surgical protocol for clefts in the soft palate (CPS) and for clefts in the hard and soft palate (CPH), with or without additional malformation, regarding primary and secondary surgical interventions needed for cleft closure and for correction of velopharyngeal insufficiency until 10 years of age. Of 94 consecutive children with CPO, divided into four groups with (+) or without (-) additional malformations (CPS + or CPS - and CPH + or CPH-), hard palate repair was required in 53%, performed with small local flaps in 21% and with bilateral mucoperiosteal flaps in 32%. The total incidence of soft palate re-repair was 2% and the fistula repair of the hard palate was 5%. The total incidence of secondary velopharyngeal surgery was 17% until 10 years, varying from 0% for CPS - and 15% for CPH-, to 28% for CPS + and 30% for CPH+. The described staged protocol for repair of CPO is found to be safe in terms of perioperative surgical results, with comparatively low need for secondary interventions. Furthermore, the study indicates that the presence of a cleft in the hard palate and/or additional conditions have a negative impact on the development of the velopharyngeal function.

U.S. Additional Protocol Outreach Program-Tabletop Exercises to Implement the AP.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Langner, D. C.; Thomas, K. E.; Smith, M. K.

2005-01-01

The Office of International Regimes and Agreement (NA-243) is the lead office in the Department of Energy (DOE) to assist DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sites in the preparation of providing declarations on relevant civilian, nuclear fuel cycle-related research and development activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This is in accordance to the implementation of the ''Protocol Additional to the AGreement between the United STates and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Applications of Safeguards in the United States. In preparation for entry-into-force, NA-243 conducted two tabletop exercises under the Additional Protocol Outreach Program. Themore » first one, held in May 2004 at Los Alamos National Laboratory, focused on the factors important to protect national security assets and intellectual property. The other, held in August 2004 at the Idaho National Laboratory explored the level of detail or granularity for reporting declarable activities. Both tabletops invited participants from the national laboratories and DOE/NNSA organizations. Discussions were based around the process to identify potential declarable activities relating to the nuclear fuel cycle-related R and D projects from the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative program. The two tabletop exercises provided recommendations and conclusions that would be helpful to other DOE/NNSA locations for preparing for and reporting relevant and concise information to the IAEA under the Additional Protocol. This paper provides details on the events, discussions, observations, and lessons learned from both the LANL and INL tabletop exercises.« less

Comparison of different tissue clearing methods and 3D imaging techniques for visualization of GFP-expressing mouse embryos and embryonic hearts.

PubMed

Kolesová, Hana; Čapek, Martin; Radochová, Barbora; Janáček, Jiří; Sedmera, David

2016-08-01

Our goal was to find an optimal tissue clearing protocol for whole-mount imaging of embryonic and adult hearts and whole embryos of transgenic mice that would preserve green fluorescent protein GFP fluorescence and permit comparison of different currently available 3D imaging modalities. We tested various published organic solvent- or water-based clearing protocols intended to preserve GFP fluorescence in central nervous system: tetrahydrofuran dehydration and dibenzylether protocol (DBE), SCALE, CLARITY, and CUBIC and evaluated their ability to render hearts and whole embryos transparent. DBE clearing protocol did not preserve GFP fluorescence; in addition, DBE caused considerable tissue-shrinking artifacts compared to the gold standard BABB protocol. The CLARITY method considerably improved tissue transparency at later stages, but also decreased GFP fluorescence intensity. The SCALE clearing resulted in sufficient tissue transparency up to ED12.5; at later stages the useful depth of imaging was limited by tissue light scattering. The best method for the cardiac specimens proved to be the CUBIC protocol, which preserved GFP fluorescence well, and cleared the specimens sufficiently even at the adult stages. In addition, CUBIC decolorized the blood and myocardium by removing tissue iron. Good 3D renderings of whole fetal hearts and embryos were obtained with optical projection tomography and selective plane illumination microscopy, although at resolutions lower than with a confocal microscope. Comparison of five tissue clearing protocols and three imaging methods for study of GFP mouse embryos and hearts shows that the optimal method depends on stage and level of detail required.

Quantum processing by remote quantum control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiang, Xiaogang; Zhou, Xiaoqi; Aungskunsiri, Kanin; Cable, Hugo; O'Brien, Jeremy L.

2017-12-01

Client-server models enable computations to be hosted remotely on quantum servers. We present a novel protocol for realizing this task, with practical advantages when using technology feasible in the near term. Client tasks are realized as linear combinations of operations implemented by the server, where the linear coefficients are hidden from the server. We report on an experimental demonstration of our protocol using linear optics, which realizes linear combination of two single-qubit operations by a remote single-qubit control. In addition, we explain when our protocol can remain efficient for larger computations, as well as some ways in which privacy can be maintained using our protocol.

Design and Verification of a Distributed Communication Protocol

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Munoz, Cesar A.; Goodloe, Alwyn E.

2009-01-01

The safety of remotely operated vehicles depends on the correctness of the distributed protocol that facilitates the communication between the vehicle and the operator. A failure in this communication can result in catastrophic loss of the vehicle. To complicate matters, the communication system may be required to satisfy several, possibly conflicting, requirements. The design of protocols is typically an informal process based on successive iterations of a prototype implementation. Yet distributed protocols are notoriously difficult to get correct using such informal techniques. We present a formal specification of the design of a distributed protocol intended for use in a remotely operated vehicle, which is built from the composition of several simpler protocols. We demonstrate proof strategies that allow us to prove properties of each component protocol individually while ensuring that the property is preserved in the composition forming the entire system. Given that designs are likely to evolve as additional requirements emerge, we show how we have automated most of the repetitive proof steps to enable verification of rapidly changing designs.

Cryptanalysis and improvement of a quantum communication-based online shopping mechanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Wei; Yang, Ying-Hui; Jia, Heng-Yue

2015-06-01

Recently, Chou et al. (Electron Commer Res 14:349-367, 2014) presented a novel controlled quantum secure direct communication protocol which can be used for online shopping. The authors claimed that their protocol was immune to the attacks from both external eavesdropper and internal betrayer. However, we find that this protocol is vulnerable to the attack from internal betrayer. In this paper, we analyze the security of this protocol to show that the controller in this protocol is able to eavesdrop the secret information of the sender (i.e., the customer's shopping information), which indicates that it cannot be used for secure online shopping as the authors expected. Accordingly, an improvement of this protocol, which could resist the controller's attack, is proposed. In addition, we present another protocol which is more appropriate for online shopping. Finally, a discussion about the difference in detail of the quantum secure direct communication process between regular quantum communications and online shopping is given.

Additional considerations are required when preparing a protocol for a systematic review with multiple interventions.

PubMed

Chaimani, Anna; Caldwell, Deborah M; Li, Tianjing; Higgins, Julian P T; Salanti, Georgia

2017-03-01

The number of systematic reviews that aim to compare multiple interventions using network meta-analysis is increasing. In this study, we highlight aspects of a standard systematic review protocol that may need modification when multiple interventions are to be compared. We take the protocol format suggested by Cochrane for a standard systematic review as our reference and compare the considerations for a pairwise review with those required for a valid comparison of multiple interventions. We suggest new sections for protocols of systematic reviews including network meta-analyses with a focus on how to evaluate their assumptions. We provide example text from published protocols to exemplify the considerations. Standard systematic review protocols for pairwise meta-analyses need extensions to accommodate the increased complexity of network meta-analysis. Our suggested modifications are widely applicable to both Cochrane and non-Cochrane systematic reviews involving network meta-analyses. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Near-optimal protocols in complex nonequilibrium transformations

DOE PAGES

Gingrich, Todd R.; Rotskoff, Grant M.; Crooks, Gavin E.; ...

2016-08-29

The development of sophisticated experimental means to control nanoscale systems has motivated efforts to design driving protocols that minimize the energy dissipated to the environment. Computational models are a crucial tool in this practical challenge. In this paper, we describe a general method for sampling an ensemble of finite-time, nonequilibrium protocols biased toward a low average dissipation. In addition, we show that this scheme can be carried out very efficiently in several limiting cases. As an application, we sample the ensemble of low-dissipation protocols that invert the magnetization of a 2D Ising model and explore how the diversity of themore » protocols varies in response to constraints on the average dissipation. In this example, we find that there is a large set of protocols with average dissipation close to the optimal value, which we argue is a general phenomenon.« less

The importance of the Montreal Protocol in protecting climate.

PubMed

Velders, Guus J M; Andersen, Stephen O; Daniel, John S; Fahey, David W; McFarland, Mack

2007-03-20

The 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is a landmark agreement that has successfully reduced the global production, consumption, and emissions of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs). ODSs are also greenhouse gases that contribute to the radiative forcing of climate change. Using historical ODSs emissions and scenarios of potential emissions, we show that the ODS contribution to radiative forcing most likely would have been much larger if the ODS link to stratospheric ozone depletion had not been recognized in 1974 and followed by a series of regulations. The climate protection already achieved by the Montreal Protocol alone is far larger than the reduction target of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. Additional climate benefits that are significant compared with the Kyoto Protocol reduction target could be achieved by actions under the Montreal Protocol, by managing the emissions of substitute fluorocarbon gases and/or implementing alternative gases with lower global warming potentials.

The importance of the Montreal Protocol in protecting climate

PubMed Central

Velders, Guus J. M.; Andersen, Stephen O.; Daniel, John S.; Fahey, David W.; McFarland, Mack

2007-01-01

The 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is a landmark agreement that has successfully reduced the global production, consumption, and emissions of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs). ODSs are also greenhouse gases that contribute to the radiative forcing of climate change. Using historical ODSs emissions and scenarios of potential emissions, we show that the ODS contribution to radiative forcing most likely would have been much larger if the ODS link to stratospheric ozone depletion had not been recognized in 1974 and followed by a series of regulations. The climate protection already achieved by the Montreal Protocol alone is far larger than the reduction target of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. Additional climate benefits that are significant compared with the Kyoto Protocol reduction target could be achieved by actions under the Montreal Protocol, by managing the emissions of substitute fluorocarbon gases and/or implementing alternative gases with lower global warming potentials. PMID:17360370

Protocol for Uniformly Measuring and Expressing the Performance of Energy Storage Systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Conover, David R.; Crawford, Aladsair J.; Fuller, Jason C.

The Protocol for Uniformly Measuring and Expressing the Performance of Energy Storage Systems (PNNL-22010) was first issued in November 2012 as a first step toward providing a foundational basis for developing an initial standard for the uniform measurement and expression of energy storage system (ESS) performance. Based on experiences with the application and use of that document, and to include additional ESS applications and associated duty cycles, test procedures and performance metrics, a first revision of the November 2012 Protocol was issued in June 2014 (PNNL 22010 Rev. 1). As an update of the 2014 revision 1 to the Protocol,more » this document (the March 2016 revision 2 to the Protocol) is intended to supersede the June 2014 revision 1 to the Protocol and provide a more user-friendly yet more robust and comprehensive basis for measuring and expressing ESS performance.« less

Point-to-Point Multicast Communications Protocol

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byrd, Gregory T.; Nakano, Russell; Delagi, Bruce A.

1987-01-01

This paper describes a protocol to support point-to-point interprocessor communications with multicast. Dynamic, cut-through routing with local flow control is used to provide a high-throughput, low-latency communications path between processors. In addition multicast transmissions are available, in which copies of a packet are sent to multiple destinations using common resources as much as possible. Special packet terminators and selective buffering are introduced to avoid a deadlock during multicasts. A simulated implementation of the protocol is also described.

Additionality and permanence standards in California's Forest Offset Protocol: A review of project and program level implications.

PubMed

Ruseva, T; Marland, E; Szymanski, C; Hoyle, J; Marland, G; Kowalczyk, T

2017-08-01

A key component of California's cap-and-trade program is the use of carbon offsets as compliance instruments for reducing statewide GHG emissions. Under this program, offsets are tradable credits representing real, verifiable, quantifiable, enforceable, permanent, and additional reductions or removals of GHG emissions. This paper focuses on the permanence and additionality standards for offset credits as defined and operationalized in California's Compliance Offset Protocol for U.S. Forest Projects. Drawing on a review of the protocol, interviews, current offset projects, and existing literature, we discuss how additionality and permanence standards relate to project participation and overall program effectiveness. Specifically, we provide an overview of offset credits as compliance instruments in California's cap-and-trade program, the timeline for a forest offset project, and the factors shaping participation in offset projects. We then discuss the implications of permanence and additionality at both the project and program levels. Largely consistent with previous work, we find that stringent standards for permanent and additional project activities can present barriers to participation, but also, that there may be a trade-off between project quality and quantity (i.e. levels of participation) when considering overall program effectiveness. We summarize what this implies for California's forest offset program and provide suggestions for improvements in light of potential program diffusion and policy learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Blind quantum computation with identity authentication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Qin; Li, Zhulin; Chan, Wai Hong; Zhang, Shengyu; Liu, Chengdong

2018-04-01

Blind quantum computation (BQC) allows a client with relatively few quantum resources or poor quantum technologies to delegate his computational problem to a quantum server such that the client's input, output, and algorithm are kept private. However, all existing BQC protocols focus on correctness verification of quantum computation but neglect authentication of participants' identity which probably leads to man-in-the-middle attacks or denial-of-service attacks. In this work, we use quantum identification to overcome such two kinds of attack for BQC, which will be called QI-BQC. We propose two QI-BQC protocols based on a typical single-server BQC protocol and a double-server BQC protocol. The two protocols can ensure both data integrity and mutual identification between participants with the help of a third trusted party (TTP). In addition, an unjammable public channel between a client and a server which is indispensable in previous BQC protocols is unnecessary, although it is required between TTP and each participant at some instant. Furthermore, the method to achieve identity verification in the presented protocols is general and it can be applied to other similar BQC protocols.

Security Enhanced User Authentication Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks Using Elliptic Curves Cryptography

PubMed Central

Choi, Younsung; Lee, Donghoon; Kim, Jiye; Jung, Jaewook; Nam, Junghyun; Won, Dongho

2014-01-01

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of sensors, gateways and users. Sensors are widely distributed to monitor various conditions, such as temperature, sound, speed and pressure but they have limited computational ability and energy. To reduce the resource use of sensors and enhance the security of WSNs, various user authentication protocols have been proposed. In 2011, Yeh et al. first proposed a user authentication protocol based on elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) for WSNs. However, it turned out that Yeh et al.'s protocol does not provide mutual authentication, perfect forward secrecy, and key agreement between the user and sensor. Later in 2013, Shi et al. proposed a new user authentication protocol that improves both security and efficiency of Yeh et al.'s protocol. However, Shi et al.'s improvement introduces other security weaknesses. In this paper, we show that Shi et al.'s improved protocol is vulnerable to session key attack, stolen smart card attack, and sensor energy exhausting attack. In addition, we propose a new, security-enhanced user authentication protocol using ECC for WSNs. PMID:24919012

Security enhanced user authentication protocol for wireless sensor networks using elliptic curves cryptography.

PubMed

Choi, Younsung; Lee, Donghoon; Kim, Jiye; Jung, Jaewook; Nam, Junghyun; Won, Dongho

2014-06-10

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of sensors, gateways and users. Sensors are widely distributed to monitor various conditions, such as temperature, sound, speed and pressure but they have limited computational ability and energy. To reduce the resource use of sensors and enhance the security of WSNs, various user authentication protocols have been proposed. In 2011, Yeh et al. first proposed a user authentication protocol based on elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) for WSNs. However, it turned out that Yeh et al.'s protocol does not provide mutual authentication, perfect forward secrecy, and key agreement between the user and sensor. Later in 2013, Shi et al. proposed a new user authentication protocol that improves both security and efficiency of Yeh et al.'s protocol. However, Shi et al.'s improvement introduces other security weaknesses. In this paper, we show that Shi et al.'s improved protocol is vulnerable to session key attack, stolen smart card attack, and sensor energy exhausting attack. In addition, we propose a new, security-enhanced user authentication protocol using ECC for WSNs.

Revisiting the ALA/N (alpha-lipoic acid/low-dose naltrexone) protocol for people with metastatic and nonmetastatic pancreatic cancer: a report of 3 new cases.

PubMed

Berkson, Burton M; Rubin, Daniel M; Berkson, Arthur J

2009-12-01

The authors, in a previous article, described the long-term survival of a man with pancreatic cancer and metastases to the liver, treated with intravenous alpha-lipoic acid and oral low-dose naltrexone (ALA/N) without any adverse effects. He is alive and well 78 months after initial presentation. Three additional pancreatic cancer case studies are presented in this article. At the time of this writing, the first patient, GB, is alive and well 39 months after presenting with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas with metastases to the liver. The second patient, JK, who presented to the clinic with the same diagnosis was treated with the ALA/N protocol and after 5 months of therapy, PET scan demonstrated no evidence of disease. The third patient, RC, in addition to his pancreatic cancer with liver and retroperitoneal metastases, has a history of B-cell lymphoma and prostate adenocarcinoma. After 4 months of the ALA/N protocol his PET scan demonstrated no signs of cancer. In this article, the authors discuss the poly activity of ALA: as an agent that reduces oxidative stress, its ability to stabilize NF(k)B, its ability to stimulate pro-oxidant apoptosic activity, and its discriminative ability to discourage the proliferation of malignant cells. In addition, the ability of lowdose naltrexone to modulate an endogenous immune response is discussed. This is the second article published on the ALA/N protocol and the authors believe the protocol warrants clinical trial.

Fractional, biodegradable and spectral characteristics of extracted and fractionated sludge extracellular polymeric substances.

PubMed

Wei, Liang-Liang; Wang, Kun; Zhao, Qing-Liang; Jiang, Jun-Qiu; Kong, Xiang-Juan; Lee, Duu-Jong

2012-09-15

Correlation between fractional, biodegradable and spectral characteristics of sludge extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) by different protocols has not been well established. This work extracted sludge EPS using alkaline extractants (NH₄OH and formaldehyde + NaOH) and physical protocols (ultrasonication, heating at 80 °C or cation exchange resin (CER)) and then fractionated the extracts using XAD-8/XAD-4 resins. The alkaline extractants yielded more sludge EPS than the physical protocols. However, the physical protocols extracted principally the hydrophilic components which were readily biodegradable by microorganisms. The alkaline extractants dissolved additional humic-like substances from sludge solids which were refractory in nature. Different extraction protocols preferably extracted EPS with distinct fractional, biodegradable and spectral characteristics which could be applied in specific usages. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Potential oil spill risk from shipping and the implications for management in the Caribbean Sea.

PubMed

Singh, Asha; Asmath, Hamish; Chee, Candice Leung; Darsan, Junior

2015-04-15

The semi enclosed Caribbean Sea is ranked as having one of the most intense maritime traffic in the world. These maritime activities have led to significant oil pollution. Simultaneously, this sea supports many critical habitats functioning as a Large Marine Ecosystem (LME). While the impacts of oil pollution are recognised, a number of management challenges remain. This study applies spatial modelling to identify critical areas potentially at risk from oil spills in the form of a potential oil spill risk (POSR) model. The model indicates that approximately 83% of the sea could be potentially impacted by oil spills due to shipping. The results from this study collectively support a management framework for minimising ship generated oil pollution in the Caribbean Sea. Among the recommended components are a common policy, surveillance and monitoring controls, standards, monitoring programmes, data collection and greater rates of convention ratifications. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mercury Emissions Capture Efficiency with Activated Carbon ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This EPA-led project, conducted in collaboration with UNEP, the Swedish Environmental Institute and various Russian Institutes, that demonstrates that the mercury emission control efficiencies of activated carbon injection technologies applied at a Russian power plant burning Russian coals are similar to those found at U.S. plants burning US coals. (The US funding was from funds provided to the EPA by the Department of State pursuant to the Bio-Chemical Redirect Program which engages former Russian (and other former Soviet) weapons scientists in research projects with US collaborators.) Among other things, this report will aid the major task, of developing guidance on best available mercury control technology/best environmental practices (BAT/BEP) for coal-fired power plants, a major source a global anthropogenic emissions. (The new Minamata Convention requires BAT/BEP for new power plants and other major emission sources within five years of treaty ratification.)

Scientific Cooperation Between the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin (DAW) and Cuba in the 1960s and 1970s

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wendt, Helge

After the ratification of its constitution in 1959, the young Cuban Republic sought new cooperation partners in a number of different fields. One of these fields was scientific cooperation. It seems the Cubans quickly found partners in the academies of science of the USSR, Czechoslovakia and China, whereas the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin (DAW) was reluctant to engage in long-term cooperative projects. In the early 1960s, the universities of East Germany (GDR) began to send docents and scientists to Cuba where they participated in the summer schools, taught for one semester or more in one of the universities and undertook research that would be useful for their home institutions. However, the DAW carefully observed the reestablishment of Cuba's own academy of science before becoming involved in common projects with Cuban partners.

Push comes to shove. Women press for human rights treaty.

PubMed

Farmer, A

1999-12-01

The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a global pact for advancing women's rights, was brought to Senate by nine female House members after 20 years of waiting to be ratified. Ratifying countries agree to fight all types of discrimination, including reproductive rights violations as well as the exploitation of prostitution, inequalities in marriage laws and unequal access to health care. Senator Jesse Helms, the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is against the ratification of the CEDAW because he believes that it will do little to improve the lives of women. Meanwhile, other organizations in other states such as the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, are showing their support to the CEDAW by submitting a number of Shadow Reports to the committee which highlights discriminatory laws and policies against women in other countries.

NATO without INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces). Research report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Modlin, S.L.

1988-05-01

This paper was written in the Winter 1987-1988, during the time of the signing of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) signed in Washington, D.C. on 8 December 1987. The paper was written to look ahead to the implications that the treaty, assuming congressional ratification without major change, would have on NATO. Discussed are the historical background of NATO and U.S. national interests in maintaining a balance of power in Europe. NATO strategies of massive retaliation, mutual assured destruction and flexible response are surveyed with respect to the political and military decisions to deploy, and negotiate the removal of INF frommore » Europe. The paper addresses the dual-track decision and the results leading to the INF treaty. The implications of the treaty are then discussed, with a renewed look at U.S. national interests, and suggestions for future U.S. involvement with NATO are provided.« less

Clinton advocates for Law of the Sea treaty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Showstack, Randy

The Obama administration recently reiterated its call for the United States to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who expressed strong support for the Law of the Sea treaty during her Senate confirmation hearing in 2009, again called for passage of the treaty during 15 December remarks at a business roundtable in Washington, D. C., sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts. "Signing on to the convention is critical to protecting American security and enhancing our economic strength," she said, noting that the U.S. ratification of the treaty would protect American business interests by providing "legal certainty and predictability that businesses can rely on." The treaty—which also touches on a wide range of other issues including navigation, conservation and management of resources, and scientific research—is opposed by some who are concerned about the undermining of national sovereignty.

Ethical perspectives of the Australian live export trade.

PubMed

Phillips, C J C

2005-09-01

To examine the ethical perspectives of the Australian live export trade. The perspectives of farmers and other industry personnel, overseas consumers, the Australian public, veterinarians and the assumed interests of transported animals are compared in relation to the ethical consequences. Animal welfare, societal, personal and professional ethics are identified and the ratification of different perspectives considered. There are positive and negative aspects of the trade for each stakeholder group, and the overall position adopted by any individual reflects their perspective of the balance of these components. The debate as to whether Australia should continue with the trade will be best served by consideration of the interests of all parties in the trade, including the consumers and animals, which are among the most affected by the trade. There is a need for further research to address the major welfare problems for the animals, an openness to inspection on the part of the trade and balance in media reporting.

Environment-friendly drilling operation technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Huaidong; Jing, Ning; Zhang, Yanna; Huang, Hongjun; Wei, Jun

2017-01-01

Under the circumstance that international safety and environmental standards being more and more stringent, drilling engineering is facing unprecedented challenges, the extensive traditional process flow is no longer accepted, the new safe and environment-friendly process is more suitable to the healthy development of the industry. In 2015, CNPCIC adopted environment-friendly drilling technology for the first time in the Chad region, ensured the safety of well control, at the same time increased the environmental protection measure, reduced the risk of environmental pollution what obtain the ratification from local government. This technology carries out recovery and disposal of crude oil, cuttings and mud without falling on the ground. The final products are used in road and well site construction, which realizes the reutilization of drilling waste, reduces the operating cost, and provides a strong technical support for cost-cutting and performance-increase of drilling engineering under low oil price.

Computer simulation and performance assessment of the packet-data service of the Aeronautical Mobile Satellite Service (AMSS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ferzali, Wassim; Zacharakis, Vassilis; Upadhyay, Triveni; Weed, Dennis; Burke, Gregory

1995-01-01

The ICAO Aeronautical Mobile Communications Panel (AMCP) completed the drafting of the Aeronautical Mobile Satellite Service (AMSS) Standards and Recommended Practices (SARP's) and the associated Guidance Material and submitted these documents to ICAO Air Navigation Commission (ANC) for ratification in May 1994. This effort, encompassed an extensive, multi-national SARP's validation. As part of this activity, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sponsored an effort to validate the SARP's via computer simulation. This paper provides a description of this effort. Specifically, it describes: (1) the approach selected for the creation of a high-fidelity AMSS computer model; (2) the test traffic generation scenarios; and (3) the resultant AMSS performance assessment. More recently, the AMSS computer model was also used to provide AMSS performance statistics in support of the RTCA standardization activities. This paper describes this effort as well.

Minimization of Hypoglycemia as an Adverse Event During Insulin Infusion: Further Refinement of the Yale Protocol.

PubMed

Marvin, Michael R; Inzucchi, Silvio E; Besterman, Brian J

2016-08-01

The management of hyperglycemia in the intensive care unit has been a controversial topic for more than a decade, with target ranges varying from 80-110 mg/dL to <200 mg/dL. Multiple insulin infusion protocols exist, including several computerized protocols, which have attempted to achieve these targets. Importantly, compliance with these protocols has not been a focus of clinical studies. GlucoCare™, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared insulin-dosing calculator, was originally designed based on the Yale Insulin Infusion Protocol to target 100-140 mg/dL and has undergone several modifications to reduce hypoglycemia. The original Yale protocol was modified from 100-140 mg/dL to a range of 120-140 mg/dL (GlucoCare 120-140) and then to 140 mg/dL (GlucoCare 140, not a range but a single blood glucose [BG] level target) in an iterative and evidence-based manner to eliminate hypoglycemia <70 mg/dL. The final modification [GlucoCare 140(B)] includes the addition of bolus insulin "midprotocol" during an insulin infusion to reduce peak insulin rates for insulin-resistant patients. This study examined the results of these protocol modifications and evaluated the role of compliance with the protocol in the incidence of hypoglycemia <70 mg/dL. Protocol modifications resulted in mean BG levels of 133.4, 136.4, 143.8, and 146.4 mg/dL and hypoglycemic BG readings <70 mg/dL of 0.998%, 0.367%, 0.256%, and 0.04% for the 100-140, 120-140, 140, and 140(B) protocols, respectively (P < 0.001). Adherence to the glucose check interval significantly reduced the incidence of hypoglycemia (P < 0.001). Protocol modifications led to a reduction in peak insulin infusion rates (P < 0.001) and the need for dextrose-containing boluses (P < 0.001). This study demonstrates that refinements in protocol design can improve glucose control in critically ill patients and that the use of GlucoCare 140(B) can eliminate all significant hypoglycemia while achieving mean glucose levels between 140 and 150 mg/dL. In addition, attention to the timely performance of glucose levels can also reduce hypoglycemic events.

Miniaturization of the Clonogenic Assay Using Confluence Measurement

PubMed Central

Mayr, Christian; Beyreis, Marlena; Dobias, Heidemarie; Gaisberger, Martin; Pichler, Martin; Ritter, Markus; Jakab, Martin; Neureiter, Daniel; Kiesslich, Tobias

2018-01-01

The clonogenic assay is a widely used method to study the ability of cells to ‘infinitely’ produce progeny and is, therefore, used as a tool in tumor biology to measure tumor-initiating capacity and stem cell status. However, the standard protocol of using 6-well plates has several disadvantages. By miniaturizing the assay to a 96-well microplate format, as well as by utilizing the confluence detection function of a multimode reader, we here describe a new and modified protocol that allows comprehensive experimental setups and a non-endpoint, label-free semi-automatic analysis. Comparison of bright field images with confluence images demonstrated robust and reproducible detection of clones by the confluence detection function. Moreover, time-resolved non-endpoint confluence measurement of the same well showed that semi-automatic analysis was suitable for determining the mean size and colony number. By treating cells with an inhibitor of clonogenic growth (PTC-209), we show that our modified protocol is suitable for comprehensive (broad concentration range, addition of technical replicates) concentration- and time-resolved analysis of the effect of substances or treatments on clonogenic growth. In summary, this protocol represents a time- and cost-effective alternative to the commonly used 6-well protocol (with endpoint staining) and also provides additional information about the kinetics of clonogenic growth. PMID:29510509

Generation of insulin-producing cells from human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells: comparison of three differentiation protocols.

PubMed

Gabr, Mahmoud M; Zakaria, Mahmoud M; Refaie, Ayman F; Khater, Sherry M; Ashamallah, Sylvia A; Ismail, Amani M; El-Badri, Nagwa; Ghoneim, Mohamed A

2014-01-01

Many protocols were utilized for directed differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to form insulin-producing cells (IPCs). We compared the relative efficiency of three differentiation protocols. Human bone marrow-derived MSCs (HBM-MSCs) were obtained from three insulin-dependent type 2 diabetic patients. Differentiation into IPCs was carried out by three protocols: conophylline-based (one-step protocol), trichostatin-A-based (two-step protocol), and β -mercaptoethanol-based (three-step protocol). At the end of differentiation, cells were evaluated by immunolabeling for insulin production, expression of pancreatic endocrine genes, and release of insulin and c-peptide in response to increasing glucose concentrations. By immunolabeling, the proportion of generated IPCs was modest ( ≃ 3%) in all the three protocols. All relevant pancreatic endocrine genes, insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, were expressed. There was a stepwise increase in insulin and c-peptide release in response to glucose challenge, but the released amounts were low when compared with those of pancreatic islets. The yield of functional IPCs following directed differentiation of HBM-MSCs was modest and was comparable among the three tested protocols. Protocols for directed differentiation of MSCs need further optimization in order to be clinically meaningful. To this end, addition of an extracellular matrix and/or a suitable template should be attempted.

Human Schedule Performance, Protocol Analysis, and the "Silent Dog" Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cabello, Francisco; Luciano, Carmen; Gomez, Inmaculada; Barnes-Holmes, Dermot

2004-01-01

The purpose of the current experiment was to investigate the role of private verbal behavior on the operant performances of human adults, using a protocol analysis procedure with additional methodological controls (the "silent dog" method). Twelve subjects were exposed to fixed ratio 8 and differential reinforcement of low rate 3-s schedules. For…

Fast and easy enzyme immobilization by photoinitiated polymerization for efficient bioelectrochemical devices.

PubMed

Suraniti, Emmanuel; Studer, Vincent; Sojic, Neso; Mano, Nicolas

2011-04-01

Immobilization and electrical wiring of enzymes is of particular importance for the elaboration of efficient biosensors and can be cumbersome. Here, we report a fast and easy protocol for enzyme immobilization, and as a proof of concept, we applied it to the immobilization of bilirubin oxidase, a labile enzyme. In the first step, bilirubin oxidase is mixed with a redox hydrogel "wiring" the enzyme reaction centers to electrodes. Then, this adduct is covered by an outer layer of PEGDA made by photoinitiated polymerization of poly(ethylene-glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) and a photoclivable precursor, DAROCUR. This two-step protocol is 18 times faster than the current state-of-the-art protocol and leads to currents 25% higher. In addition, the outer layer of PEGDA acts as a protective layer increasing the lifetime of the electrode by 100% when operating continuously for 2000 s and by 60% when kept in dry state for 24 h. This new protocol is particularly appropriate for labile enzymes that quickly denaturate. In addition, by tuning the ratio PEGDA/DAROCUR, it is possible to make the enzyme electrodes even more active or more stable.

Experimental Evaluation of Unicast and Multicast CoAP Group Communication

PubMed Central

Ishaq, Isam; Hoebeke, Jeroen; Moerman, Ingrid; Demeester, Piet

2016-01-01

The Internet of Things (IoT) is expanding rapidly to new domains in which embedded devices play a key role and gradually outnumber traditionally-connected devices. These devices are often constrained in their resources and are thus unable to run standard Internet protocols. The Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is a new alternative standard protocol that implements the same principals as the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), but is tailored towards constrained devices. In many IoT application domains, devices need to be addressed in groups in addition to being addressable individually. Two main approaches are currently being proposed in the IoT community for CoAP-based group communication. The main difference between the two approaches lies in the underlying communication type: multicast versus unicast. In this article, we experimentally evaluate those two approaches using two wireless sensor testbeds and under different test conditions. We highlight the pros and cons of each of them and propose combining these approaches in a hybrid solution to better suit certain use case requirements. Additionally, we provide a solution for multicast-based group membership management using CoAP. PMID:27455262

Recovery of gait after quadriceps muscle fatigue.

PubMed

Barbieri, Fabio Augusto; Beretta, Stephannie Spiandor; Pereira, Vinicius A I; Simieli, Lucas; Orcioli-Silva, Diego; dos Santos, Paulo Cezar Rocha; van Dieën, Jaap H; Gobbi, Lilian Teresa Bucken

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of recovery time after quadriceps muscle fatigue on gait in young adults. Forty young adults (20-40 years old) performed three 8-m gait trials at preferred velocity before and after muscle fatigue, and after 5, 10 and 20min of passive rest. In addition, at each time point, two maximal isometric voluntary contractions were preformed. Muscle fatigue was induced by repeated sit-to-stand transfers until task failure. Spatio-temporal, kinetic and muscle activity parameters, measured in the central stride of each trial, were analyzed. Data were compared between before and after the muscle fatigue protocol and after the recovery periods by one-way repeated measures ANOVA. The voluntary force was decreased after the fatigue protocol (p<0.001) and after 5, 10 and 20min of recovery compared to before the fatigue protocol. Step width (p<0.001) and RMS of biceps femoris (p<0.05) were increased immediately after the fatigue protocol and remained increased after the recovery periods. In addition, stride duration was decreased immediately after the fatigue protocol compared to before and to after 10 and 20min of rest (p<0.001). The anterior-posterior propulsive impulse was also decreased after the fatigue protocol (p<0.001) and remained low after 5, 10 and 20min of rest. We conclude that 20min is not enough to see full recovery of gait after exhaustive quadriceps muscle fatigue. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Shift in responsibilities in diabetes care: the Nurse-Driven Diabetes In-Hospital Treatment protocol (N-DIABIT).

PubMed

Manders, I G; Stoecklein, K; Lubach, C H C; Bijl-Oeldrich, J; Nanayakkara, P W B; Rauwerda, J A; Kramer, M H H; Eekhoff, E M W

2016-06-01

To investigate the feasibility, safety and efficacy of the Nurse-Driven Diabetes In-Hospital Treatment protocol (N-DIABIT), which consists of nurse-driven correctional therapy, in addition to physician-guided basal therapy, and is carried out by trained ward nurses. Data on 210 patients with diabetes consecutively admitted in the 5-month period after the introduction of N-DIABIT (intervention group) were compared with the retrospectively collected data on 200 consecutive patients with diabetes admitted in the 5-month period before N-DIABIT was introduced (control group). Additional per-protocol analyses were performed in patients in whom mean patient-based protocol adherence was ≥ 70% (intervention subgroup, n = 173 vs. control subgroup, n = 196). There was no difference between the intervention and the control group in mean blood glucose levels (8.9 ± 0.1 and 9.1 ± 0.2 mmol/l, respectively; P = 0.38), consecutive hyperglycaemic (blood glucose ≥ 10.0 mmol/l) episodes; P = 0.15), admission duration (P = 0.79), mean number of blood glucose measurements (P = 0.21) and incidence of severe hypoglycaemia (P = 0.29). Per-protocol analyses showed significant reductions in mean blood glucose levels and consecutive hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia in the intervention compared with the control group. Implementation of N-DIABIT by trained ward nurses in non-intensive care unit diabetes care is feasible, safe and non-inferior to physician-driven care alone. High protocol adherence was associated with improved glycaemic control. © 2015 Diabetes UK.

Soil organic carbon sequestration as affected by afforestation: the Darab Kola forest (north of Iran) case study.

PubMed

Kooch, Yahya; Hosseini, Seyed Mohsen; Zaccone, Claudio; Jalilvand, Hamid; Hojjati, Seyed Mohammad

2012-09-01

Following the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, afforestation of formerly arable lands and/or degraded areas has been acknowledged as a land-use change contributing to the mitigation of increasing atmospheric CO(2) concentration in the atmosphere. In the present work, we study the soil organic carbon sequestration (SOCS) in 21 year old stands of maple (Acer velutinum Bioss.), oak (Quercus castaneifolia C.A. Mey.), and red pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) in the Darab Kola region, north of Iran. Soil samples were collected at four different depths (0-10, 10-20, 20-30, and 30-40 cm), and characterized with respect to bulk density, water content, electrical conductivity, pH, texture, lime content, total organic C, total N, and earthworm density and biomass. Data showed that afforested stands significantly affected soil characteristics, also raising SOCS phenomena, with values of 163.3, 120.6, and 102.1 Mg C ha(-1) for red pine, oak and maple stands, respectively, vs. 83.0 Mg C ha(-1) for the control region. Even if the dynamics of organic matter (OM) in soil is very complex and affected by several pedo-climatic factors, a stepwise regression method indicates that SOCS values in the studied area could be predicted using the following parameters, i.e., sand, clay, lime, and total N contents, and C/N ratio. In particular, although the chemical and physical stabilization capacity of organic C by soil is believed to be mainly governed by clay content, regression analysis showed a positive correlation between SOCS and sand (R = 0.86(**)), whereas a negative correlation with clay (R = -0.77(**)) was observed, thus suggesting that most of this organic C occurs as particulate OM instead of mineral-associated OM. Although the proposed models do not take into account possible changes due to natural and anthropogenic processes, they represent a simple way that could be used to evaluate and/or monitor the potential of each forest plantation in immobilizing organic C in soil (thus reducing atmospheric C concentration), as well as to select more appropriate species during forestation plan management at least in the north of Iran.

Problematic protocols: An overview of medical research protocols not approved by the LUMC medical ethics review committee.

PubMed

Tersmette, Derek Gideon; Engberts, Dirk Peter

2017-01-01

The Committee for Medical Ethics (CME) of Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) was established as the first medical ethics reviewing committee (MREC) in the Netherlands. In the period 2000-2010 the CME received 2,162 protocols for review. Some of these protocols were never approved. Until now, there has existed neither an overview of these failed protocols nor an overview of the reasons for their failure. This report draws on data from the digital database, the physical archives, and the minutes of the meetings of the CME. Additional information has been obtained from the Central Committee on Research involving Human Subjects (CCRH) and survey-based research. Protocols were itemized based on characteristic features and their reviewing procedures were analyzed. In total, 1,952 out of 2,162 research protocols submitted during 2000-2010 (90.3%) were approved by the CME; 210 of 2,162 protocols (9.7%) were not approved. Of these 210 protocols, 177 failed due to reasons not related to CME reviewing. In 15 cases CME reviewing led to protocol failure, while another 10 protocols were rejected outright. Eight of the 210 submitted protocols without approval had been conducted prior to submission. In the aforementioned period, little protocol failure occurred. For the most part, protocol failure was caused by problems that are not CME related. This type of failure has several identifiable factors, none of which have anything to do with the ethical reviewing procedure by the CME. A mere 1.2% of protocols failed due to ethical review. Unacceptable burden and risks to the subject and an inadequate methodology are the most common reasons for this CME-related protocol failure.

Unification of quantum information theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abeyesinghe, Anura

We present the unification of many previously disparate results in noisy quantum Shannon theory and the unification of all of noiseless quantum Shannon theory. More specifically we deal here with bipartite, unidirectional, and memoryless quantum Shannon theory. We find all the optimal protocols and quantify the relationship between the resources used, both for the one-shot and for the ensemble case, for what is arguably the most fundamental task in quantum information theory: sharing entangled states between a sender and a receiver. We find that all of these protocols are derived from our one-shot superdense coding protocol and relate nicely to each other. We then move on to noisy quantum information theory and give a simple, direct proof of the "mother" protocol, or rather her generalization to the Fully Quantum Slepian-Wolf protocol (FQSW). FQSW simultaneously accomplishes two goals: quantum communication-assisted entanglement distillation, and state transfer from the sender to the receiver. As a result, in addition to her other "children," the mother protocol generates the state merging primitive of Horodecki, Oppenheim, and Winter as well as a new class of distributed compression protocols for correlated quantum sources, which are optimal for sources described by separable density operators. Moreover, the mother protocol described here is easily transformed into the so-called "father" protocol, demonstrating that the division of single-sender/single-receiver protocols into two families was unnecessary: all protocols in the family are children of the mother.

The impacts of electricity dispatch protocols on the emission reductions due to wind power and carbon tax.

PubMed

Yu, Yang; Rajagopal, Ram

2015-02-17

Two dispatch protocols have been adopted by electricity markets to deal with the uncertainty of wind power but the effects of the selection between the dispatch protocols have not been comprehensively analyzed. We establish a framework to compare the impacts of adopting different dispatch protocols on the efficacy of using wind power and implementing a carbon tax to reduce emissions. We suggest that a market has high potential to achieve greater emission reduction by adopting the stochastic dispatch protocol instead of the static protocol when the wind energy in the market is highly uncertain or the market has enough adjustable generators, such as gas-fired combustion generators. Furthermore, the carbon-tax policy is more cost-efficient for reducing CO2 emission when the market operates according to the stochastic protocol rather than the static protocol. An empirical study, which is calibrated according to the data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas market, confirms that using wind energy in the Texas market results in a 12% CO2 emission reduction when the market uses the stochastic dispatch protocol instead of the 8% emission reduction associated with the static protocol. In addition, if a 6$/ton carbon tax is implemented in the Texas market operated according to the stochastic protocol, the CO2 emission is similar to the emission level from the same market with a 16$/ton carbon tax operated according to the static protocol. Correspondingly, the 16$/ton carbon tax associated with the static protocol costs 42.6% more than the 6$/ton carbon tax associated with the stochastic protocol.

Controlled loading of cryoprotectants (CPAs) to oocyte with linear and complex CPA profiles on a microfluidic platform.

PubMed

Heo, Yun Seok; Lee, Ho-Joon; Hassell, Bryan A; Irimia, Daniel; Toth, Thomas L; Elmoazzen, Heidi; Toner, Mehmet

2011-10-21

Oocyte cryopreservation has become an essential tool in the treatment of infertility by preserving oocytes for women undergoing chemotherapy. However, despite recent advances, pregnancy rates from all cryopreserved oocytes remain low. The inevitable use of the cryoprotectants (CPAs) during preservation affects the viability of the preserved oocytes and pregnancy rates either through CPA toxicity or osmotic injury. Current protocols attempt to reduce CPA toxicity by minimizing CPA concentrations, or by minimizing the volume changes via the step-wise addition of CPAs to the cells. Although the step-wise addition decreases osmotic shock to oocytes, it unfortunately increases toxic injuries due to the long exposure times to CPAs. To address limitations of current protocols and to rationally design protocols that minimize the exposure to CPAs, we developed a microfluidic device for the quantitative measurements of oocyte volume during various CPA loading protocols. We spatially secured a single oocyte on the microfluidic device, created precisely controlled continuous CPA profiles (step-wise, linear and complex) for the addition of CPAs to the oocyte and measured the oocyte volumetric response to each profile. With both linear and complex profiles, we were able to load 1.5 M propanediol to oocytes in less than 15 min and with a volumetric change of less than 10%. Thus, we believe this single oocyte analysis technology will eventually help future advances in assisted reproductive technologies and fertility preservation.

In-shoe plantar pressure measurements for the evaluation and adaptation of foot orthoses in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A proof of concept study.

PubMed

Tenten-Diepenmaat, Marloes; Dekker, Joost; Steenbergen, Menno; Huybrechts, Elleke; Roorda, Leo D; van Schaardenburg, Dirkjan; Bus, Sicco A; van der Leeden, Marike

2016-03-01

Improving foot orthoses (FOs) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by using in-shoe plantar pressure measurements seems promising. The objectives of this study were to evaluate (1) the outcome on plantar pressure distribution of FOs that were adapted using in-shoe plantar pressure measurements according to a protocol and (2) the protocol feasibility. Forty-five RA patients with foot problems were included in this observational proof-of concept study. FOs were custom-made by a podiatrist according to usual care. Regions of Interest (ROIs) for plantar pressure reduction were selected. According to a protocol, usual care FOs were evaluated using in-shoe plantar pressure measurements and, if necessary, adapted. Plantar pressure-time integrals at the ROIs were compared between the following conditions: (1) no-FO versus usual care FO and (2) usual care FO versus adapted FO. Semi-structured interviews were held with patients and podiatrists to evaluate the feasibility of the protocol. Adapted FOs were developed in 70% of the patients. In these patients, usual care FOs showed a mean 9% reduction in pressure-time integral at forefoot ROIs compared to no-FOs (p=0.01). FO adaptation led to an additional mean 3% reduction in pressure-time integral (p=0.05). The protocol was considered feasible by patients. Podiatrists considered the protocol more useful to achieve individual rather than general treatment goals. A final protocol was proposed. Using in-shoe plantar pressure measurements for adapting foot orthoses for patients with RA leads to a small additional plantar pressure reduction in the forefoot. Further research on the clinical relevance of this outcome is required. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Low-Contrast and Low-Radiation Dose Protocol in Cardiac Computed Tomography: Usefulness of Low Tube Voltage and Knowledge-Based Iterative Model Reconstruction Algorithm.

PubMed

Iyama, Yuji; Nakaura, Takeshi; Yokoyama, Koichi; Kidoh, Masafumi; Harada, Kazunori; Oda, Seitaro; Tokuyasu, Shinichi; Yamashita, Yasuyuki

This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of a low contrast, low-radiation dose protocol of 80-peak kilovoltage (kVp) with prospective electrocardiography-gated cardiac computed tomography (CT) using knowledge-based iterative model reconstruction (IMR). Thirty patients underwent an 80-kVp prospective electrocardiography-gated cardiac CT with low-contrast agent (222-mg iodine per kilogram of body weight) dose. We also enrolled 30 consecutive patients who were scanned with a 120-kVp cardiac CT with filtered back projection using the standard contrast agent dose (370-mg iodine per kilogram of body weight) as a historical control group. We evaluated the radiation dose for the 2 groups. The 80-kVp images were reconstructed with filtered back projection (protocol A), hybrid iterative reconstruction (HIR, protocol B), and IMR (protocol C). We compared CT numbers, image noise, and contrast-to-noise ratio among 120-kVp protocol, protocol A, protocol B, and protocol C. In addition, we compared the noise reduction rate between HIR and IMR. Two independent readers compared image contrast, image noise, image sharpness, unfamiliar image texture, and overall image quality among the 4 protocols. The estimated effective dose (ED) of the 80-kVp protocol was 74% lower than that of the 120-kVp protocol (1.4 vs 5.4 mSv). The contrast-to-noise ratio of protocol C was significantly higher than that of protocol A. The noise reduction rate of IMR was significantly higher than that of HIR (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference in almost all qualitative image quality between 120-kVp protocol and protocol C except for image contrast. A 80-kVp protocol with IMR yields higher image quality with 74% decreased radiation dose and 40% decreased contrast agent dose as compared with a 120-kVp protocol, while decreasing more image noise compared with the 80-kVp protocol with HIR.

Development of an HPV Educational Protocol for Adolescents

PubMed Central

Wetzel, Caitlin; Tissot, Abbigail; Kollar, Linda M.; Hillard, Paula A.; Stone, Rachel; Kahn, Jessica A.

2007-01-01

Study Objectives To develop an educational protocol about HPV and Pap tests for adolescents, to evaluate the protocol for understandability and clarity, and to evaluate the protocol for its effectiveness in increasing knowledge about HPV. Design In phase 1, investigators and adolescents developed the protocol. In phase 2, adolescents evaluated the protocol qualitatively, investigators evaluated its effectiveness in increasing HPV knowledge in a sample of adolescents, and the protocol was revised. In phase 3, investigators evaluated the effectiveness of the revised protocol in an additional adolescent sample. Setting Urban, hospital-based teen health center. Participants A total of 252 adolescent girls and boys in the three study phases. Main Outcome Measures Pre- and post-protocol knowledge about HPV, measured using a 10- or 11-item scale. Results Scores on the HPV knowledge scale increased significantly (p<.0001) among adolescents who participated in phases 2 and 3 after they received the protocol. Initial differences in scores based on race, insurance type and condom use were not noted post-protocol. Conclusion The protocol significantly increased knowledge scores about HPV in this population, regardless of sociodemographic characteristics and risk behaviors. Effective, developmentally appropriate educational protocols about HPV and Pap tests are particularly important in clinical settings as cervical cancer screening guidelines evolve, HPV DNA testing is integrated into screening protocols, and HPV vaccines become available. In-depth, one-on-one education about HPV may also prevent adverse psychosocial responses and promote healthy sexual and Pap screening behaviors in adolescents with abnormal HPV or Pap test results. Synopsis The investigators developed an educational protocol about HPV and Pap tests and evaluated its effectiveness in increasing knowledge about HPV among adolescents. PMID:17868894

Remote Entanglement by Coherent Multiplication of Concurrent Quantum Signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roy, Ananda; Jiang, Liang; Stone, A. Douglas; Devoret, Michel

2015-10-01

Concurrent remote entanglement of distant, noninteracting quantum entities is a crucial function for quantum information processing. In contrast with the existing protocols which employ the addition of signals to generate entanglement between two remote qubits, the continuous variable protocol we present is based on the multiplication of signals. This protocol can be straightforwardly implemented by a novel Josephson junction mixing circuit. Our scheme would be able to generate provable entanglement even in the presence of practical imperfections: finite quantum efficiency of detectors and undesired photon loss in current state-of-the-art devices.

Pharmacophore modeling using Site-Identification by Ligand Competitive Saturation (SILCS) with multiple probe molecules

PubMed Central

Yu, Wenbo; Lakkaraju, Sirish Kaushik; Raman, E. Prabhu; Fang, Lei; MacKerell, Alexander D.

2015-01-01

Receptor-based pharmacophore modeling is an efficient computer-aided drug design technique that uses the structure of the target protein to identify novel leads. However, most methods consider protein flexibility and desolvation effects in a very approximate way, which may limit their use in practice. The Site-Identification by Ligand Competitive Saturation (SILCS) assisted pharmacophore modeling protocol (SILCS-Pharm) was introduced recently to address these issues as SILCS naturally takes both protein flexibility and desolvation effects into account by using full MD simulations to determine 3D maps of the functional group-affinity patterns on a target receptor. In the present work, the SILCS-Pharm protocol is extended to use a wider range of probe molecules including benzene, propane, methanol, formamide, acetaldehyde, methylammonium, acetate and water. This approach removes the previous ambiguity brought by using water as both the hydrogen-bond donor and acceptor probe molecule. The new SILCS-Pharm protocol is shown to yield improved screening results as compared to the previous approach based on three target proteins. Further validation of the new protocol using five additional protein targets showed improved screening compared to those using common docking methods, further indicating improvements brought by the explicit inclusion of additional feature types associated with the wider collection of probe molecules in the SILCS simulations. The advantage of using complementary features and volume constraints, based on exclusion maps of the protein defined from the SILCS simulations, is presented. In addition, re-ranking using SILCS-based ligand grid free energies is shown to enhance the diversity of identified ligands for the majority of targets. These results suggest that the SILCS-Pharm protocol will be of utility in rational drug design. PMID:25622696

Short-Term Health-Related Quality of Life of Critically Ill Children Following Daily Sedation Interruption.

PubMed

Vet, Nienke J; de Wildt, Saskia N; Verlaat, Carin W M; Mooij, Miriam G; Tibboel, Dick; de Hoog, Matthijs; Buysse, Corinne M P

2016-11-01

Our earlier pediatric daily sedation interruption trial showed that daily sedation interruption in addition to protocolized sedation in critically ill children does not reduce duration of mechanical ventilation, length of stay, or amounts of sedative drugs administered when compared with protocolized sedation only, but undersedation was more frequent in the daily sedation interruption + protocolized sedation group. We now report the preplanned analysis comparing short-term health-related quality of life and posttraumatic stress symptoms between the two groups. Preplanned prospective part of a randomized controlled trial. Two tertiary medical-surgical PICUs in the Netherlands. Critically ill children requiring mechanical ventilation. None. Eight weeks after a child's discharge from the PICU, health-related quality of life was assessed with the validated Child Health Questionnaire and, only for children above 4 years old, posttraumatic stress was assessed with the Dutch Children's Responses to Trauma Inventory. Additionally, health-related quality of life of all study patients was compared with Dutch normative data. Of the 113 patients from two participating centers in the original study, 96 patients were eligible for follow-up and 64 patients were included (response rate, 67%). No difference was found with respect to health-related quality of life between the two study groups. None of the eight children more than 4 years old showed posttraumatic stress symptoms. Daily sedation interruption in addition to protocolized sedation for critically ill children did not seem to have an effect on short-term health-related quality of life. Also in view of the earlier found absence of effect on clinical outcome, we cannot recommend the use of daily sedation interruption + protocolized sedation.

The Robinson Protocol: a treadmill anaerobic performance test.

PubMed

Robinson, Ellyn M; Graham, Louise B; Headley, Samuel A

2004-08-01

The current investigation was designed to further examine the reliability of the Robinson protocol, which is a run-to-exhaustion treadmill test. Robinson (10) originally examined this protocol with 5 subjects. The significance of the initial exploratory study was the impetus for expanding the study to examine the reliability of the protocol with a larger sample. Fifteen male subjects participated in 3 trial runs on the treadmill. The first trial was a modified McConnell (7) test to determine the aerobic capacity of each subject. The second and third trials were identical Robinson protocols (10). The first trial run mean, in seconds (262.04 +/- 74.50), was not significantly different from the second trial run mean (257.30 +/- 72.65), p = 0.526 (2 tailed). As expected, trial 1 and trial 2 were highly correlated (intraclass) (r = 0.927, p < 0.001). These results provide additional support for the hypothesis that the Robinson protocol with a greater subject pool is a reliable protocol that can be used in research studies interested in examining various physiological interventions or anaerobic training.

Acetone facilitated DNA sampling from electrical tapes improves DNA recovery and enables latent fingerprints development.

PubMed

Feine, Ilan; Shpitzen, Moshe; Geller, Boris; Salmon, Eran; Peleg, Tsach; Roth, Jonathan; Gafny, Ron

2017-07-01

Electrical tapes (ETs) are a common component of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) used by terrorists or criminal organizations and represent a valuable forensic resource for DNA and latent fingerprints recovery. However, DNA recovery rates are typically low and usually below the minimal amount required for amplification. In addition, most DNA extraction methods are destructive and do not allow further latent fingerprints development. In the present study a cell culture based touch DNA model was used to demonstrate a two-step acetone-water DNA recovery protocol from ETs. This protocol involves only the adhesive side of the ET and increases DNA recovery rates by up to 70%. In addition, we demonstrated partially successful latent fingerprints development from the non-sticky side of the ETs. Taken together, this protocol maximizes the forensic examination of ETs and is recommended for routine casework processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Secret key distillation from shielded two-qubit states

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bae, Joonwoo

The quantum states corresponding to a secret key are characterized using the so-called private states, where the key part consisting of a secret key is shielded by the additional systems. Based on the construction, it was shown that a secret key can be distilled from bound entangled states. In this work, I consider the shielded two-qubit states in a key-distillation scenario and derive the conditions under which a secret key can be distilled using the recurrence protocol or the two-way classical distillation, advantage distillation together with one-way postprocessing. From the security conditions, it is shown that a secret key canmore » be distilled from bound entangled states in a much wider range. In addition, I consider the case that in which white noise is added to quantum states and show that the classical distillation protocol still works despite a certain amount of noise although the recurrence protocol does not.« less

The citation of relevant systematic reviews and randomised trials in published reports of trial protocols.

PubMed

Pandis, Nikolaos; Fleming, Padhraig S; Koletsi, Despina; Hopewell, Sally

2016-12-07

It is important that planned randomised trials are justified and placed in the context of the available evidence. The SPIRIT guidelines for reporting clinical trial protocols recommend that a recent and relevant systematic review should be included. The aim of this study was to assess the use of the existing evidence in order to justify trial conduct. Protocols of randomised trials published over a 1-month period (December 2015) indexed in PubMed were obtained. Data on trial characteristics relating to location, design, funding, conflict of interest and type of evidence included for trial justification was extracted in duplicate and independently by two investigators. The frequency of citation of previous research including relevant systematic reviews and randomised trials was assessed. Overall, 101 protocols for RCTs were identified. Most proposed trials were parallel-group (n = 74; 73.3%). Reference to an earlier systematic review with additional randomised trials was found in 9.9% (n = 10) of protocols and without additional trials in 30.7% (n = 31), while reference was made to randomised trials in isolation in 21.8% (n = 22). Explicit justification for the proposed randomised trial on the basis of being the first to address the research question was made in 17.8% (n = 18) of protocols. A randomised controlled trial was not cited in 10.9% (95% CI: 5.6, 18.7) (n = 11), while in 8.9% (95% CI: 4.2, 16.2) (n = 9) of the protocols a systematic review was cited but did not inform trial design. A relatively high percentage of protocols of randomised trials involves prior citation of randomised trials, systematic reviews or both. However, improvements are required to ensure that it is explicit that clinical trials are justified and shaped by contemporary best evidence.

Mission Operations Center (MOC) - Precipitation Processing System (PPS) Interface Software System (MPISS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ferrara, Jeffrey; Calk, William; Atwell, William; Tsui, Tina

2013-01-01

MPISS is an automatic file transfer system that implements a combination of standard and mission-unique transfer protocols required by the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) Precipitation Processing System (PPS) to control the flow of data between the MOC and the PPS. The primary features of MPISS are file transfers (both with and without PPS specific protocols), logging of file transfer and system events to local files and a standard messaging bus, short term storage of data files to facilitate retransmissions, and generation of file transfer accounting reports. The system includes a graphical user interface (GUI) to control the system, allow manual operations, and to display events in real time. The PPS specific protocols are an enhanced version of those that were developed for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). All file transfers between the MOC and the PPS use the SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). For reports and data files generated within the MOC, no additional protocols are used when transferring files to the PPS. For observatory data files, an additional handshaking protocol of data notices and data receipts is used. MPISS generates and sends to the PPS data notices containing data start and stop times along with a checksum for the file for each observatory data file transmitted. MPISS retrieves the PPS generated data receipts that indicate the success or failure of the PPS to ingest the data file and/or notice. MPISS retransmits the appropriate files as indicated in the receipt when required. MPISS also automatically retrieves files from the PPS. The unique feature of this software is the use of both standard and PPS specific protocols in parallel. The advantage of this capability is that it supports users that require the PPS protocol as well as those that do not require it. The system is highly configurable to accommodate the needs of future users.

CT and MR Protocol Standardization Across a Large Health System: Providing a Consistent Radiologist, Patient, and Referring Provider Experience.

PubMed

Sachs, Peter B; Hunt, Kelly; Mansoubi, Fabien; Borgstede, James

2017-02-01

Building and maintaining a comprehensive yet simple set of standardized protocols for a cross-sectional image can be a daunting task. A single department may have difficulty preventing "protocol creep," which almost inevitably occurs when an organized "playbook" of protocols does not exist and individual radiologists and technologists alter protocols at will and on a case-by-case basis. When multiple departments or groups function in a large health system, the lack of uniformity of protocols can increase exponentially. In 2012, the University of Colorado Hospital formed a large health system (UCHealth) and became a 5-hospital provider network. CT and MR imaging studies are conducted at multiple locations by different radiology groups. To facilitate consistency in ordering, acquisition, and appearance of a given study, regardless of location, we minimized the number of protocols across all scanners and sites of practice with a clinical indication-driven protocol selection and standardization process. Here we review the steps utilized to perform this process improvement task and insure its stability over time. Actions included creation of a standardized protocol template, which allowed for changes in electronic storage and management of protocols, designing a change request form, and formation of a governance structure. We utilized rapid improvement events (1 day for CT, 2 days for MR) and reduced 248 CT protocols into 97 standardized protocols and 168 MR protocols to 66. Additional steps are underway to further standardize output and reporting of imaging interpretation. This will result in an improved, consistent radiologist, patient, and provider experience across the system.

Brazil to Join the European Southern Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2010-12-01

The Federative Republic of Brazil has yesterday signed the formal accession agreement paving the way for it to become a Member State of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Following government ratification Brazil will become the fifteenth Member State and the first from outside Europe. On 29 December 2010, at a ceremony in Brasilia, the Brazilian Minister of Science and Technology, Sergio Machado Rezende and the ESO Director General, Tim de Zeeuw signed the formal accession agreement aiming to make Brazil a Member State of the European Southern Observatory. Brazil will become the fifteen Member State and the first from outside Europe. Since the agreement means accession to an international convention, the agreement must now be submitted to the Brazilian Parliament for ratification [1]. The signing of the agreement followed the unanimous approval by the ESO Council during an extraordinary meeting on 21 December 2010. "Joining ESO will give new impetus to the development of science, technology and innovation in Brazil as part of the considerable efforts our government is making to keep the country advancing in these strategic areas," says Rezende. The European Southern Observatory has a long history of successful involvement with South America, ever since Chile was selected as the best site for its observatories in 1963. Until now, however, no non-European country has joined ESO as a Member State. "The membership of Brazil will give the vibrant Brazilian astronomical community full access to the most productive observatory in the world and open up opportunities for Brazilian high-tech industry to contribute to the European Extremely Large Telescope project. It will also bring new resources and skills to the organisation at the right time for them to make a major contribution to this exciting project," adds ESO Director General, Tim de Zeeuw. The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) telescope design phase was recently completed and a major review was conducted where every aspect of this large project was scrutinised by an international panel of independent experts. The panel found that the E-ELT project is technically ready to enter the construction phase. The go-ahead for E-ELT construction is planned for 2011 and when operations start early in the next decade, European, Brazilian and Chilean astronomers will have access to this giant telescope. The president of ESO's governing body, the Council, Laurent Vigroux, concludes: "Astronomers in Brazil will benefit from collaborating with European colleagues, and naturally from having observing time at ESO's world-class observatories at La Silla and Paranal, as well as on ALMA, which ESO is constructing with its international partners." Notes [1] After ratification of Brazil's membership, the ESO Member States will be Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. More information ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 14 countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and VISTA, the world's largest survey telescope. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 42-metre European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".

Column chromatography as a useful step in purification of diatom pigments.

PubMed

Tokarek, Wiktor; Listwan, Stanisław; Pagacz, Joanna; Leśniak, Piotr; Latowski, Dariusz

2016-01-01

Fucoxanthin, diadinoxanthin and diatoxanthin are carotenoids found in brown algae and most other heterokonts. These pigments are involved in photosynthetic and photoprotective reactions, and they have many potential health benefits. They can be extracted from diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum by sonication, extraction with chloroform : methanol and preparative thin layer chromatography. We assessed the utility of an additional column chromatography step in purification of these pigments. This novel addition to the isolation protocol increased the purity of fucoxanthin and allowed for concentration of diadinoxanthin and diatoxanthin before HPLC separation. The enhanced protocol is useful for obtaining high purity pigments for biochemical studies.

Catalytic Carbonyl Allylation, Propargylation and Vinylation from the Alcohol or Aldehyde Oxidation Level via C-C Bond Forming Hydrogenation and Transfer Hydrogenation: A Departure from Preformed Organometallic Reagents**

PubMed Central

Bower, John F.; Kim, In Su; Patman, Ryan L.; Krische, Michael J.

2009-01-01

Classical protocols for carbonyl allylation, propargylation and vinylation typically rely upon the use of preformed allyl metal, allenyl metal and vinyl metal reagents, respectively, mandating stoichiometric generation of metallic byproducts. Through transfer hydrogenative C-C coupling, carbonyl addition may be achieved from the aldehyde or alcohol oxidation level in the absence of stoichiometric organometallic reagents or metallic reductants. Here, we review transfer hydrogenative methods for carbonyl addition, which encompass the first cataltyic protocols enabling direct C–H functionalization of alcohols. PMID:19040235

[Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and improving chess performance in promising young chess-players].

PubMed

Ruiz, Francisco J; Luciano, Carmen

2009-08-01

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is shown to be effective in relatively distant fields from the so-called psychological disorders. One of these areas is sport performance improvement. The aim of the current study is to expand the application of brief ACT protocols to improve chess-players' performance. In a previous study, a brief protocol was applied to international-level adult chess-players that was effective. The current study aims to apply an equivalent brief ACT protocol, but in this case, applied in a group format to promising young chess-players. In addition, this brief protocol is compared to a non-intervention control condition. Results show that the ACT brief protocol improved the performance in 5 out of 7 participants, and that none of the chess-players in the control condition reached the established change criterion. The differences between the conditions in chess performance were statistically significant. The results are discussed, emphasizing the replicated impact of a brief ACT protocol on the improvement of chess-players' performance.

An Efficient Mutual Authentication Framework for Healthcare System in Cloud Computing.

PubMed

Kumar, Vinod; Jangirala, Srinivas; Ahmad, Musheer

2018-06-28

The increasing role of Telecare Medicine Information Systems (TMIS) makes its accessibility for patients to explore medical treatment, accumulate and approach medical data through internet connectivity. Security and privacy preservation is necessary for medical data of the patient in TMIS because of the very perceptive purpose. Recently, Mohit et al.'s proposed a mutual authentication protocol for TMIS in the cloud computing environment. In this work, we reviewed their protocol and found that it is not secure against stolen verifier attack, many logged in patient attack, patient anonymity, impersonation attack, and fails to protect session key. For enhancement of security level, we proposed a new mutual authentication protocol for the similar environment. The presented framework is also more capable in terms of computation cost. In addition, the security evaluation of the protocol protects resilience of all possible security attributes, and we also explored formal security evaluation based on random oracle model. The performance of the proposed protocol is much better in comparison to the existing protocol.

Thermo-chemical pretreatment of rice straw for further processing for levulinic acid production.

PubMed

Elumalai, Sasikumar; Agarwal, Bhumica; Sangwan, Rajender S

2016-10-01

A variety of pretreatment protocols for rice straw fiber reconstruction were evaluated under mild conditions (upto 0.2%wt. and 121°C) with the object of improving polymer susceptibility to chemical attack while preserving carbohydrate sugars for levulinic acid (LA) production. Each of the protocols tested significantly enhanced pretreatment recoveries of carbohydrate sugars and lignin, and a NaOH protocol showed the most promise, with enhanced carbohydrate preservation (upto 20% relative to the other protocols) and more effective lignin dissolution (upto 60%). Consequently, post-pretreatment fibers were evaluated for LA preparation using an existing co-solvent system consisting of HCl and THF, in addition supplementation of DMSO was attempted, in order to improve final product recovery. In contrast to pretreatment response, H2SO4 protocol fibers yielded highest LA conc. (21%wt. with 36% carbohydrate conversion efficiency) under the modest reaction conditions. Apparent spectroscopic analysis witnessed for fiber destruction and delocalization of inherent constituents during pretreatment protocols. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A novel protocol for antibiotic prophylaxis based on preoperative kidney function in patients undergoing open heart surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass.

PubMed

Odaka, Mizuho; Minakata, Kenji; Toyokuni, Hideaki; Yamazaki, Kazuhiro; Yonezawa, Atsushi; Sakata, Ryuzo; Matsubara, Kazuo

2015-08-01

This study aimed to develop and assess the effectiveness of a protocol for antibiotic prophylaxis based on preoperative kidney function in patients undergoing open heart surgery. We established a protocol for antibiotic prophylaxis based on preoperative kidney function in patients undergoing open heart surgery. This novel protocol was assessed by comparing patients undergoing open heart surgery before (control group; n = 30) and after its implementation (protocol group; n = 31) at Kyoto University Hospital between July 2012 and January 2013. Surgical site infections (SSIs) were observed in 4 control group patients (13.3 %), whereas no SSIs were observed in the protocol group patients (P < 0.05). The total duration of antibiotic use decreased significantly from 80.7 ± 17.6 h (mean ± SD) in the control group to 55.5 ± 14.9 h in the protocol group (P < 0.05). Similarly, introduction of the protocol significantly decreased the total antibiotic dose used in the perioperative period (P < 0.05). Furthermore, antibiotic regimens were changed under suspicion of infection in 5 of 30 control group patients, whereas none of the protocol group patients required this additional change in the antibiotic regimen (P < 0.05). Our novel antibiotic prophylaxis protocol based on preoperative kidney function effectively prevents SSIs in patients undergoing open heart surgery.

Model Checking a Byzantine-Fault-Tolerant Self-Stabilizing Protocol for Distributed Clock Synchronization Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malekpour, Mahyar R.

2007-01-01

This report presents the mechanical verification of a simplified model of a rapid Byzantine-fault-tolerant self-stabilizing protocol for distributed clock synchronization systems. This protocol does not rely on any assumptions about the initial state of the system. This protocol tolerates bursts of transient failures, and deterministically converges within a time bound that is a linear function of the self-stabilization period. A simplified model of the protocol is verified using the Symbolic Model Verifier (SMV) [SMV]. The system under study consists of 4 nodes, where at most one of the nodes is assumed to be Byzantine faulty. The model checking effort is focused on verifying correctness of the simplified model of the protocol in the presence of a permanent Byzantine fault as well as confirmation of claims of determinism and linear convergence with respect to the self-stabilization period. Although model checking results of the simplified model of the protocol confirm the theoretical predictions, these results do not necessarily confirm that the protocol solves the general case of this problem. Modeling challenges of the protocol and the system are addressed. A number of abstractions are utilized in order to reduce the state space. Also, additional innovative state space reduction techniques are introduced that can be used in future verification efforts applied to this and other protocols.

Comparison of protocols measuring diffusion and partition coefficients in the stratum corneum

PubMed Central

Rothe, H.; Obringer, C.; Manwaring, J.; Avci, C.; Wargniez, W.; Eilstein, J.; Hewitt, N.; Cubberley, R.; Duplan, H.; Lange, D.; Jacques‐Jamin, C.; Klaric, M.; Schepky, A.

2017-01-01

Abstract Partition (K) and diffusion (D) coefficients are important to measure for the modelling of skin penetration of chemicals through the stratum corneum (SC). We compared the feasibility of three protocols for the testing of 50 chemicals in our main studies, using three cosmetics‐relevant model chemicals with a wide range of logP values. Protocol 1: SC concentration‐depth profile using tape‐stripping (measures KSC/v and DSC/HSC 2, where HSC is the SC thickness); Protocol 2A: incubation of isolated SC with chemical (direct measurement of KSC/v only) and Protocol 2B: diffusion through isolated SC mounted on a Franz cell (measures KSC/v and DSC/HSC 2, and is based on Fick's laws). KSC/v values for caffeine and resorcinol using Protocol 1 and 2B were within 30% of each other, values using Protocol 2A were ~two‐fold higher, and all values were within 10‐fold of each other. Only indirect determination of KSC/v by Protocol 2B was different from the direct measurement of KSC/v by Protocol 2A and Protocol 1 for 7‐EC. The variability of KSC/v for all three chemicals using Protocol 2B was higher compared to Protocol 1 and 2A. DSC/HSC 2 values for the three chemicals were of the same order of magnitude using all three protocols. Additionally, using Protocol 1, there was very little difference between parameters measured in pig and human SC. In conclusion, KSC/v, and DSC values were comparable using different methods. Pig skin might be a good surrogate for human skin for the three chemicals tested. Copyright © 2017 The Authors Journal of Applied Toxicology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. PMID:28139006

Physical Therapy Protocols for Arthroscopic Bankart Repair.

PubMed

DeFroda, Steven F; Mehta, Nabil; Owens, Brett D

Outcomes after arthroscopic Bankart repair can be highly dependent on compliance and participation in physical therapy. Additionally, there are many variations in physician-recommended physical therapy protocols. The rehabilitation protocols of academic orthopaedic surgery departments vary widely despite the presence of consensus protocols. Descriptive epidemiology study. Level 3. Web-based arthroscopic Bankart rehabilitation protocols available online from Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited orthopaedic surgery programs were included for review. Individual protocols were reviewed to evaluate for the presence or absence of recommended therapies, goals for completion of ranges of motion, functional milestones, exercise start times, and recommended time to return to sport. Thirty protocols from 27 (16.4%) total institutions were identified out of 164 eligible for review. Overall, 9 (30%) protocols recommended an initial period of strict immobilization. Variability existed between the recommended time periods for sling immobilization (mean, 4.8 ± 1.8 weeks). The types of exercises and their start dates were also inconsistent. Goals to full passive range of motion (mean, 9.2 ± 2.8 weeks) and full active range of motion (mean, 12.2 ± 2.8 weeks) were consistent with other published protocols; however, wide ranges existed within the reviewed protocols as a whole. Only 10 protocols (33.3%) included a timeline for return to sport, and only 3 (10%) gave an estimate for return to game competition. Variation also existed when compared with the American Society of Shoulder and Elbow Therapists' (ASSET) consensus protocol. Rehabilitation protocols after arthroscopic Bankart repair were found to be highly variable. They also varied with regard to published consensus protocols. This discrepancy may lead to confusion among therapists and patients. This study highlights the importance of attending surgeons being very clear and specific with regard to their physical therapy instructions to patients and therapists.

Converging research needs across framework convention on tobacco control articles: making research relevant to global tobacco control practice and policy.

PubMed

Leischow, Scott J; Ayo-Yusuf, Olalekan; Backinger, Cathy L

2013-04-01

Much of the research used to support the ratification of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was conducted in high-income countries or in highly controlled environments. Therefore, for the global tobacco control community to make informed decisions that will continue to effectively inform policy implementation, it is critical that the tobacco control community, policy makers, and funders have updated information on the state of the science as it pertains to provisions of the FCTC. Following the National Cancer Institute's process model used in identifying the research needs of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's relatively new tobacco law, a core team of scientists from the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco identified and commissioned internationally recognized scientific experts on the topics covered within the FCTC. These experts analyzed the relevant sections of the FCTC and identified critical gaps in research that is needed to inform policy and practice requirements of the FCTC. This paper summarizes the process and the common themes from the experts' recommendations about the research and related infrastructural needs. Research priorities in common across Articles include improving surveillance, fostering research communication/collaboration across organizations and across countries, and tracking tobacco industry activities. In addition, expanding research relevant to low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), was also identified as a priority, including identification of what existing research findings are transferable, what new country-specific data are needed, and the infrastructure needed to implement and disseminate research so as to inform policy in LMIC.

On-farm comparisons of different cleaning protocols in broiler houses.

PubMed

Luyckx, K Y; Van Weyenberg, S; Dewulf, J; Herman, L; Zoons, J; Vervaet, E; Heyndrickx, M; De Reu, K

2015-08-01

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of 4 cleaning protocols designed to reduce the bacteriological infection pressure on broiler farms and prevent food-borne zoonoses. Additionally, difficult to clean locations and possible sources of infection were identified. Cleaning and disinfection rounds were evaluated in 12 broiler houses on 5 farms through microbiological analyses and adenosine triphosphate hygiene monitoring. Samples were taken at 3 different times: before cleaning, after cleaning, and after disinfection. At each sampling time, swabs were taken from various locations for enumeration of the total aerobic flora and Enterococcus species pluralis ( SPP:). In addition, before cleaning and after disinfection, testing for Escherichia coli and Salmonella was carried out. Finally, adenosine triphosphate swabs and agar contact plates for total aerobic flora counts were taken after cleaning and disinfection, respectively. Total aerobic flora and Enterococcus spp. counts on the swab samples showed that cleaning protocols which were preceded by an overnight soaking with water caused a higher bacterial reduction compared to protocols without a preceding soaking step. Moreover, soaking of broiler houses leads to less water consumption and reduced working time during high pressure cleaning. No differences were found between protocols using cold or warm water during cleaning. Drinking cups, drain holes, and floor cracks were identified as critical locations for cleaning and disinfection in broiler houses. © 2015 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Three-step semiquantum secure direct communication protocol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zou, XiangFu; Qiu, DaoWen

2014-09-01

Quantum secure direct communication is the direct communication of secret messages without need for establishing a shared secret key first. In the existing schemes, quantum secure direct communication is possible only when both parties are quantum. In this paper, we construct a three-step semiquantum secure direct communication (SQSDC) protocol based on single photon sources in which the sender Alice is classical. In a semiquantum protocol, a person is termed classical if he (she) can measure, prepare and send quantum states only with the fixed orthogonal quantum basis {|0>, |1>}. The security of the proposed SQSDC protocol is guaranteed by the complete robustness of semiquantum key distribution protocols and the unconditional security of classical one-time pad encryption. Therefore, the proposed SQSDC protocol is also completely robust. Complete robustness indicates that nonzero information acquired by an eavesdropper Eve on the secret message implies the nonzero probability that the legitimate participants can find errors on the bits tested by this protocol. In the proposed protocol, we suggest a method to check Eves disturbing in the doves returning phase such that Alice does not need to announce publicly any position or their coded bits value after the photons transmission is completed. Moreover, the proposed SQSDC protocol can be implemented with the existing techniques. Compared with many quantum secure direct communication protocols, the proposed SQSDC protocol has two merits: firstly the sender only needs classical capabilities; secondly to check Eves disturbing after the transmission of quantum states, no additional classical information is needed.

Operational Implementation of a 2-Hour Prebreathe Protocol for International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waligora, James M.; Conkin, J.; Foster, P. P.; Schneider, S.; Loftin, Karin C.; Gernhardt, Michael L.; Vann, R.

2000-01-01

Procedures, equipment, and analytical techniques were developed to implement the ground tested 2-hour protocol in-flight operations. The methods are: 1) The flight protocol incorporates additional safety margin over the ground tested protocol. This includes up to 20 min of additional time on enriched O2 during suit purge and pressure check, increased duration of extravehicular activity (EVA) preparation exercise during O2 prebreathing (up to 90 min vs; the tested 24 min), and reduced rates of depressurization. The ground test observations were combined with model projections of the conservative measures (using statistical models from Duke University and NASA JSQ to bound the risk of Type I and Type II decompression sickness (DCS). 2) An inflight exercise device using the in-flight ergometer and elastic tubes for upper body exercise was developed to replicate the dual cycle exercise in the ground trials. 3) A new in-flight breathing system was developed and man-tested. 4) A process to monitor inflight experience with the protocol, including the use of an in-suit Doppler bubble monitor when available, was developed. The results are: 1) The model projections of the conservative factors of the operational protocol were shown to reduce the risk of DCS to levels consistent with the observations of no DCS to date in the shuttle program. 2) Cross over trials of the dual cycle ergometer used in ground tests and the in-flight exercise system verified that02consumption and the % division of work between upper and lower body was not significantly different at the p= 0.05 level. 3) The in-flight breathing system was demonstrated to support work rates generating 75% O2(max) in 95 percentile subjects. 4) An in-flight monitoring plan with acceptance criteria was put in place for the 2-hour prebreathe protocol. And the conclusions are: The 2-hour protocol has been approved for flight, and all implementation efforts are in place to allow use of the protocol as early as flight ISS 7A, now scheduled in November of 2000.

Adaptive transmission based on multi-relay selection and rate-compatible LDPC codes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Hualing; He, Yucheng; Zhou, Lin

2017-08-01

In order to adapt to the dynamical changeable channel condition and improve the transmissive reliability of the system, a cooperation system of rate-compatible low density parity check (RC-LDPC) codes combining with multi-relay selection protocol is proposed. In traditional relay selection protocol, only the channel state information (CSI) of source-relay and the CSI of relay-destination has been considered. The multi-relay selection protocol proposed by this paper takes the CSI between relays into extra account in order to obtain more chances of collabration. Additionally, the idea of hybrid automatic request retransmission (HARQ) and rate-compatible are introduced. Simulation results show that the transmissive reliability of the system can be significantly improved by the proposed protocol.

Scanning protocols dedicated to smart velocity ranging in spectral OCT.

PubMed

Grulkowski, Ireneusz; Gorczynska, Iwona; Szkulmowski, Maciej; Szlag, Daniel; Szkulmowska, Anna; Leitgeb, Rainer A; Kowalczyk, Andrzej; Wojtkowski, Maciej

2009-12-21

We introduce a new type of scanning protocols, called segmented protocols, which enable extracting multi-range flow velocity information from a single Spectral OCT data set. The protocols are evaluated using a well defined flow in a glass capillary. As an example of in vivo studies, we demonstrate two- and three-dimensional imaging of the retinal vascular system in the eyes of healthy volunteers. The flow velocity detection is performed using a method of Joint Spectral and Time domain OCT. Velocity ranging is demonstrated in imaging of retinal vasculature in the macular region and in the optic disk area characterized by different flow velocity values. Additionally, an enhanced visualization of retinal capillary network is presented in the close proximity to macula.

Instruments for Assessment of Instructional Practices in Standards-Based Teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wainwright, Camille L.

2006-12-01

This paper describes the development of two forms of an instrument used as a classroom observation protocol, designed to document the impact of reform-based professional development with undergraduate mathematics and science faculty and its impact on the resultant preparation of teachers (PreK 12). A rationale for the development and utilization of this instrument (known as the OTOP, or the Oregon Teacher Observation Protocol) is provided. Constructed upon review of the research on teaching and standards documents in mathematics and science, the protocol formed the basis for data collection in a three-year longitudinal study of teaching practice among early career teachers as well as undergraduate college faculty. In addition, this paper suggests further applications of the observation protocol beyond the original research study purpose. One prominent use for the protocol is in supervisor observations of mathematics and science student teachers.

Privacy-preserving record linkage using Bloom filters

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background Combining multiple databases with disjunctive or additional information on the same person is occurring increasingly throughout research. If unique identification numbers for these individuals are not available, probabilistic record linkage is used for the identification of matching record pairs. In many applications, identifiers have to be encrypted due to privacy concerns. Methods A new protocol for privacy-preserving record linkage with encrypted identifiers allowing for errors in identifiers has been developed. The protocol is based on Bloom filters on q-grams of identifiers. Results Tests on simulated and actual databases yield linkage results comparable to non-encrypted identifiers and superior to results from phonetic encodings. Conclusion We proposed a protocol for privacy-preserving record linkage with encrypted identifiers allowing for errors in identifiers. Since the protocol can be easily enhanced and has a low computational burden, the protocol might be useful for many applications requiring privacy-preserving record linkage. PMID:19706187

On the vulnerability of basic quantum key distribution protocols and three protocols stable to attack with 'blinding' of avalanche photodetectors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Molotkov, S. N., E-mail: sergei.molotkov@gmail.com

2012-05-15

The fundamental quantum mechanics prohibitions on the measurability of quantum states allow secure key distribution between spatially remote users to be performed. Experimental and commercial implementations of quantum cryptography systems, however, use components that exist at the current technology level, in particular, one-photon avalanche photodetectors. These detectors are subject to the blinding effect. It was shown that all the known basic quantum key distribution protocols and systems based on them are vulnerable to attacks with blinding of photodetectors. In such attacks, an eavesdropper knows all the key transferred, does not produce errors at the reception side, and remains undetected. Threemore » protocols of quantum key distribution stable toward such attacks are suggested. The security of keys and detection of eavesdropping attempts are guaranteed by the internal structure of protocols themselves rather than additional technical improvements.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lim, Charles Ci Wen; Xu, Feihu; Siopsis, George

Quantum position verification (QPV) is the art of verifying the geographical location of an untrusted party. It has recently been shown that the widely studied Bennett & Brassard 1984 (BB84) QPV protocol is insecure after the 3 dB loss point assuming local operations and classical communication (LOCC) adversaries. Here in this paper, we propose a time-reversed entanglement swapping QPV protocol (based on measurement-device-independent quantum cryptography) that is highly robust against quantum channel loss. First, assuming ideal qubit sources, we show that the protocol is secure against LOCC adversaries for any quantum channel loss, thereby overcoming the 3 dB loss limit.more » Then, we analyze the security of the protocol in a more practical setting involving weak laser sources and linear optics. Lastly, in this setting, we find that the security only degrades by an additive constant and the protocol is able to verify positions up to 47 dB channel loss.« less

Privacy-preserving record linkage using Bloom filters.

PubMed

Schnell, Rainer; Bachteler, Tobias; Reiher, Jörg

2009-08-25

Combining multiple databases with disjunctive or additional information on the same person is occurring increasingly throughout research. If unique identification numbers for these individuals are not available, probabilistic record linkage is used for the identification of matching record pairs. In many applications, identifiers have to be encrypted due to privacy concerns. A new protocol for privacy-preserving record linkage with encrypted identifiers allowing for errors in identifiers has been developed. The protocol is based on Bloom filters on q-grams of identifiers. Tests on simulated and actual databases yield linkage results comparable to non-encrypted identifiers and superior to results from phonetic encodings. We proposed a protocol for privacy-preserving record linkage with encrypted identifiers allowing for errors in identifiers. Since the protocol can be easily enhanced and has a low computational burden, the protocol might be useful for many applications requiring privacy-preserving record linkage.

Loss-tolerant quantum secure positioning with weak laser sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Charles Ci Wen; Xu, Feihu; Siopsis, George; Chitambar, Eric; Evans, Philip G.; Qi, Bing

2016-09-01

Quantum position verification (QPV) is the art of verifying the geographical location of an untrusted party. Recently, it has been shown that the widely studied Bennett & Brassard 1984 (BB84) QPV protocol is insecure after the 3 dB loss point assuming local operations and classical communication (LOCC) adversaries. Here, we propose a time-reversed entanglement swapping QPV protocol (based on measurement-device-independent quantum cryptography) that is highly robust against quantum channel loss. First, assuming ideal qubit sources, we show that the protocol is secure against LOCC adversaries for any quantum channel loss, thereby overcoming the 3 dB loss limit. Then, we analyze the security of the protocol in a more practical setting involving weak laser sources and linear optics. In this setting, we find that the security only degrades by an additive constant and the protocol is able to verify positions up to 47 dB channel loss.

Enhancement of HIV-1 VLP production using gene inhibition strategies.

PubMed

Fuenmayor, Javier; Cervera, Laura; Rigau, Cristina; Gòdia, Francesc

2018-05-01

Gag polyprotein from HIV-1 is able to generate virus-like particles (VLPs) when recombinantly expressed in animal cell platforms. HIV-1 VLP production in HEK293 cells can be improved by the use of different strategies for increasing product titers. One of them is the so-called extended gene expression (EGE), based on repeated medium exchanges and retransfections of the cell culture to prolong the production phase. Another approach is the media supplementation with gene expression enhancers such as valproic acid and caffeine, despite their detrimental effect on cell viability. Valproic acid is a histone deacetylase inhibitor while caffeine has a phosphodiesterase inhibition effect. Here, the combination of the EGE protocol with additive supplementation to maximize VLP production is first tested. As an alternative to the direct additive supplementation, the replacement of these chemical additives by iRNA for obtaining the same inhibition action is also tested. The combination of the EGE protocol with caffeine and valproic acid supplementation resulted in a 1.5-fold improvement in HIV-1 VLP production compared with the EGE protocol alone, representing an overall 18-fold improvement over conventional batch cultivation. shRNAs encoded in the expression vector were tested to substitute valproic acid and caffeine. This novel strategy enhanced VLP production by 2.3 fold without any detrimental effect on cell viability (91.7%) compared with the batch cultivation (92.0%). Finally, the combination of shRNA with EGE resulted in more than 15.6-fold improvement compared with the batch standard protocol traditionally used. The methodology developed enables the production of high titers of HIV-1 VLPs avoiding the toxic effects of additives.

Privacy-Preserving Classifier Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brickell, Justin; Shmatikov, Vitaly

We present an efficient protocol for the privacy-preserving, distributed learning of decision-tree classifiers. Our protocol allows a user to construct a classifier on a database held by a remote server without learning any additional information about the records held in the database. The server does not learn anything about the constructed classifier, not even the user’s choice of feature and class attributes.

Basic Microsurgery Training Using the Laboratory Rat (Rattus norvegicus)

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-03-01

all information . Use additional pages if necessary.) PROTOCOL #: FDG20170016A DATE: 1 March 2018 PROTOCOL TITLE: “Basic Microsurgery Training...2018__ RYAN M. DIEPENBROCK, Lt Col, USAF, DC (Date) 3 FDG20170016A Attachments: Attachment 1: Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Abstract...Submission Attachment 1 Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Abstract Submission Objectives: The purpose of this course is to

Exploiting colloidal interfaces to increase dispersion, performance, and pot-life in cellulose nanocrystal/waterborne epoxy composites

Treesearch

Natalie Girouard; Gregory T. Schueneman; Meisha L. Shofner; J. Carson Meredith

2015-01-01

In this study, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are incorporated into a waterborne epoxy resin following two processing protocols that vary by order of addition. The processing protocols produce different levels of CNC dispersion in the resulting composites. The more homogeneously dispersed composite has a higher storage modulus and work of fracture at temperatures less...

If SWORD Is the Answer, What Is the Question?: Use of the Simple Web-Service Offering Repository Deposit Protocol

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Stuart; Hayes, Leonie; Newton-Wade, Vanessa; Corfield, Antony; Davis, Richard; Donohue, Tim; Wilson, Scott

2009-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the repository deposit protocol, Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit (SWORD), its development iteration, and some of its potential use cases. In addition, seven case studies of institutional use of SWORD are provided. Design/methodology/approach: The paper describes the recent…

15 CFR 782.1 - Overview of reporting requirements under the APR.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... Foreign Trade (Continued) BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL... (see § 782.5 of the APR). In addition, forms may be downloaded from the Internet at http://www.ap.gov. ...

15 CFR 782.1 - Overview of reporting requirements under the APR.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Foreign Trade (Continued) BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL... (see § 782.5 of the APR). In addition, forms may be downloaded from the Internet at http://www.ap.gov. ...

15 CFR 782.1 - Overview of reporting requirements under the APR.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... Foreign Trade (Continued) BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL... (see § 782.5 of the APR). In addition, forms may be downloaded from the Internet at http://www.ap.gov. ...

15 CFR 782.1 - Overview of reporting requirements under the APR.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Foreign Trade (Continued) BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL... (see § 782.5 of the APR). In addition, forms may be downloaded from the Internet at http://www.ap.gov. ...

Additive Classical Capacity of Quantum Channels Assisted by Noisy Entanglement.

PubMed

Zhuang, Quntao; Zhu, Elton Yechao; Shor, Peter W

2017-05-19

We give a capacity formula for the classical information transmission over a noisy quantum channel, with separable encoding by the sender and limited resources provided by the receiver's preshared ancilla. Instead of a pure state, we consider the signal-ancilla pair in a mixed state, purified by a "witness." Thus, the signal-witness correlation limits the resource available from the signal-ancilla correlation. Our formula characterizes the utility of different forms of resources, including noisy or limited entanglement assistance, for classical communication. With separable encoding, the sender's signals across multiple channel uses are still allowed to be entangled, yet our capacity formula is additive. In particular, for generalized covariant channels, our capacity formula has a simple closed form. Moreover, our additive capacity formula upper bounds the general coherent attack's information gain in various two-way quantum key distribution protocols. For Gaussian protocols, the additivity of the formula indicates that the collective Gaussian attack is the most powerful.

A Guide to Writing a Qualitative Systematic Review Protocol to Enhance Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing and Health Care.

PubMed

Butler, Ashleigh; Hall, Helen; Copnell, Beverley

2016-06-01

The qualitative systematic review is a rapidly developing area of nursing research. In order to present trustworthy, high-quality recommendations, such reviews should be based on a review protocol to minimize bias and enhance transparency and reproducibility. Although there are a number of resources available to guide researchers in developing a quantitative review protocol, very few resources exist for qualitative reviews. To guide researchers through the process of developing a qualitative systematic review protocol, using an example review question. The key elements required in a systematic review protocol are discussed, with a focus on application to qualitative reviews: Development of a research question; formulation of key search terms and strategies; designing a multistage review process; critical appraisal of qualitative literature; development of data extraction techniques; and data synthesis. The paper highlights important considerations during the protocol development process, and uses a previously developed review question as a working example. This paper will assist novice researchers in developing a qualitative systematic review protocol. By providing a worked example of a protocol, the paper encourages the development of review protocols, enhancing the trustworthiness and value of the completed qualitative systematic review findings. Qualitative systematic reviews should be based on well planned, peer reviewed protocols to enhance the trustworthiness of results and thus their usefulness in clinical practice. Protocols should outline, in detail, the processes which will be used to undertake the review, including key search terms, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the methods used for critical appraisal, data extraction and data analysis to facilitate transparency of the review process. Additionally, journals should encourage and support the publication of review protocols, and should require reference to a protocol prior to publication of the review results. © 2016 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Protocols development for security and privacy of radio frequency identification systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabbagha, Fatin

There are benefits to adopting radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, although there are methods of attack that can compromise the system. This research determined how that may happen and what possible solutions can keep that from happening. Protocols were developed to implement better security. In addition, new topologies were developed to handle the problems of the key management. Previously proposed protocols focused on providing mutual authentication and privacy between readers and tags. However, those protocols are still vulnerable to be attacked. These protocols were analyzed and the disadvantages shown for each one. Previous works assumed that the channels between readers and the servers were secure. In the proposed protocols, a compromised reader is considered along with how to prevent tags from being read by that reader. The new protocols provide mutual authentication between readers and tags and, at the same time, remove the compromised reader from the system. Three protocols are proposed. In the first protocol, a mutual authentication is achieved and a compromised reader is not allowed in the network. In the second protocol, the number of times a reader contacts the server is reduced. The third protocol provides authentication and privacy between tags and readers using a trusted third party. The developed topology is implemented using python language and simulates work to check the efficiency regarding the processing time. The three protocols are implemented by writing codes in C language and then compiling them in MSP430. IAR Embedded workbench is used, which is an integrated development environment with the C/C++ compiler to generate a faster code and to debug the microcontroller. In summary, the goal of this research is to find solutions for the problems on previously proposed protocols, handle a compromised reader, and solve key management problems.

[Constraints on publication rights in industry-initiated clinical trials--secondary publication].

PubMed

Gøtzsche, Peter C; Hróbjartsson, Asbjørn; Johansen, Helle Krogh; Haahr, Mette T; Altman, Douglas G; Chan, An-Wen

2006-06-19

In 22 of 44 industry-initiated clinical trial protocols from 1994-95, it was noted that the sponsor either owned the data or needed to approve the manuscript; another 18 protocols had other constraints. Furthermore, in 16 trials, the sponsor had access to accumulating data, and in an additional 16 trials the sponsor could stop the trial at any time, for any reason. These facts were not noted in any of the trial reports. We found similar constraints on publication rights in 44 protocols from 2004. This tight sponsor control over industry-initiated trials should be changed.

Configurable unitary transformations and linear logic gates using quantum memories.

PubMed

Campbell, G T; Pinel, O; Hosseini, M; Ralph, T C; Buchler, B C; Lam, P K

2014-08-08

We show that a set of optical memories can act as a configurable linear optical network operating on frequency-multiplexed optical states. Our protocol is applicable to any quantum memories that employ off-resonant Raman transitions to store optical information in atomic spins. In addition to the configurability, the protocol also offers favorable scaling with an increasing number of modes where N memories can be configured to implement arbitrary N-mode unitary operations during storage and readout. We demonstrate the versatility of this protocol by showing an example where cascaded memories are used to implement a conditional cz gate.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of ranibizumab plus prompt or deferred laser or triamcinolone plus prompt laser for diabetic macular edema.

PubMed

Dewan, Vinay; Lambert, Dennis; Edler, Joshua; Kymes, Steven; Apte, Rajendra S

2012-08-01

Perform a cost-effectiveness analysis of the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME) with ranibizumab plus prompt or deferred laser versus triamcinolone plus prompt laser. Data for the analysis were drawn from reports of the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network (DRCRnet) Protocol I. Computer simulation based on Protocol I data. Analyses were conducted from the payor perspective. Simulated participants assigned characteristics reflecting those seen in Protocol I. Markov models were constructed to replicate Protocol I's 104-week outcomes using a microsimulation approach to estimation. Baseline characteristics, visual acuity (VA), treatments, and complications were based on Protocol I data. Costs were identified by literature search. One-way sensitivity analysis was performed, and the results were validated against Protocol I data. Direct cost of care for 2 years, change in VA from baseline, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) measured as cost per additional letter gained from baseline (Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study). For sham plus laser (S+L), ranibizumab plus prompt laser (R+pL), ranibizumab plus deferred laser (R+dL), and triamcinolone plus laser (T+L), effectiveness through 104 weeks was predicted to be 3.46, 7.07, 8.63, and 2.40 letters correct, respectively. The ICER values in terms of dollars per VA letter were $393 (S+L vs. T+L), $5943 (R+pL vs. S+L), and $20 (R+dL vs. R+pL). For pseudophakics, the ICER value for comparison triamcinolone with laser versus ranibizumab with deferred laser was $14 690 per letter gained. No clinically relevant changes in model variables altered outcomes. Internal validation demonstrated good similarity to Protocol I treatment patterns. In treatment of phakic patients with DME, ranibizumab with deferred laser provided an additional 6 letters correct compared with triamcinolone with laser at an additional cost of $19 216 over 2 years. That would indicate that if the gain in VA seen at 2 years is maintained in subsequent years, then the treatment of phakic patients with DME using ranibizumab may meet accepted standards of cost-effectiveness. For pseudophakic patients, first-line treatment with triamcinolone seems to be the most cost-effective option. Copyright © 2012 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A neural networks-based hybrid routing protocol for wireless mesh networks.

PubMed

Kojić, Nenad; Reljin, Irini; Reljin, Branimir

2012-01-01

The networking infrastructure of wireless mesh networks (WMNs) is decentralized and relatively simple, but they can display reliable functioning performance while having good redundancy. WMNs provide Internet access for fixed and mobile wireless devices. Both in urban and rural areas they provide users with high-bandwidth networks over a specific coverage area. The main problems affecting these networks are changes in network topology and link quality. In order to provide regular functioning, the routing protocol has the main influence in WMN implementations. In this paper we suggest a new routing protocol for WMN, based on good results of a proactive and reactive routing protocol, and for that reason it can be classified as a hybrid routing protocol. The proposed solution should avoid flooding and creating the new routing metric. We suggest the use of artificial logic-i.e., neural networks (NNs). This protocol is based on mobile agent technologies controlled by a Hopfield neural network. In addition to this, our new routing metric is based on multicriteria optimization in order to minimize delay and blocking probability (rejected packets or their retransmission). The routing protocol observes real network parameters and real network environments. As a result of artificial logic intelligence, the proposed routing protocol should maximize usage of network resources and optimize network performance.

An implementation of the SNR high speed network communication protocol (Receiver part)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wan, Wen-Jyh

1995-03-01

This thesis work is to implement the receiver pan of the SNR high speed network transport protocol. The approach was to use the Systems of Communicating Machines (SCM) as the formal definition of the protocol. Programs were developed on top of the Unix system using C programming language. The Unix system features that were adopted for this implementation were multitasking, signals, shared memory, semaphores, sockets, timers and process control. The problems encountered, and solved, were signal loss, shared memory conflicts, process synchronization, scheduling, data alignment and errors in the SCM specification itself. The result was a correctly functioning program which implemented the SNR protocol. The system was tested using different connection modes, lost packets, duplicate packets and large data transfers. The contributions of this thesis are: (1) implementation of the receiver part of the SNR high speed transport protocol; (2) testing and integration with the transmitter part of the SNR transport protocol on an FDDI data link layered network; (3) demonstration of the functions of the SNR transport protocol such as connection management, sequenced delivery, flow control and error recovery using selective repeat methods of retransmission; and (4) modifications to the SNR transport protocol specification such as corrections for incorrect predicate conditions, defining of additional packet types formats, solutions for signal lost and processes contention problems etc.

Performance analysis of routing protocols for IoT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manda, Sridhar; Nalini, N.

2018-04-01

Internet of Things (IoT) is an arrangement of advancements that are between disciplinary. It is utilized to have compelling combination of both physical and computerized things. With IoT physical things can have personal virtual identities and participate in distributed computing. Realization of IoT needs the usage of sensors based on the sector for which IoT is integrated. For instance, in healthcare domain, IoT needs to have integration with wearable sensors used by patients. As sensor devices produce huge amount of data, often called big data, there should be efficient routing protocols in place. To the extent remote systems is worried there are some current protocols, for example, OLSR, DSR and AODV. It additionally tosses light into Trust based routing protocol for low-power and lossy systems (TRPL) for IoT. These are broadly utilized remote directing protocols. As IoT is developing round the corner, it is basic to investigate routing protocols that and evaluate their execution regarding throughput, end to end delay, and directing overhead. The execution experiences can help in settling on very much educated choices while incorporating remote systems with IoT. In this paper, we analyzed different routing protocols and their performance is compared. It is found that AODV showed better performance than other routing protocols aforementioned.

A Neural Networks-Based Hybrid Routing Protocol for Wireless Mesh Networks

PubMed Central

Kojić, Nenad; Reljin, Irini; Reljin, Branimir

2012-01-01

The networking infrastructure of wireless mesh networks (WMNs) is decentralized and relatively simple, but they can display reliable functioning performance while having good redundancy. WMNs provide Internet access for fixed and mobile wireless devices. Both in urban and rural areas they provide users with high-bandwidth networks over a specific coverage area. The main problems affecting these networks are changes in network topology and link quality. In order to provide regular functioning, the routing protocol has the main influence in WMN implementations. In this paper we suggest a new routing protocol for WMN, based on good results of a proactive and reactive routing protocol, and for that reason it can be classified as a hybrid routing protocol. The proposed solution should avoid flooding and creating the new routing metric. We suggest the use of artificial logic—i.e., neural networks (NNs). This protocol is based on mobile agent technologies controlled by a Hopfield neural network. In addition to this, our new routing metric is based on multicriteria optimization in order to minimize delay and blocking probability (rejected packets or their retransmission). The routing protocol observes real network parameters and real network environments. As a result of artificial logic intelligence, the proposed routing protocol should maximize usage of network resources and optimize network performance. PMID:22969360

A Family of ACO Routing Protocols for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks.

PubMed

Rupérez Cañas, Delfín; Sandoval Orozco, Ana Lucila; García Villalba, Luis Javier; Kim, Tai-Hoon

2017-05-22

In this work, an ACO routing protocol for mobile ad hoc networks based on AntHocNet is specified. As its predecessor, this new protocol, called AntOR, is hybrid in the sense that it contains elements from both reactive and proactive routing. Specifically, it combines a reactive route setup process with a proactive route maintenance and improvement process. Key aspects of the AntOR protocol are the disjoint-link and disjoint-node routes, separation between the regular pheromone and the virtual pheromone in the diffusion process and the exploration of routes, taking into consideration the number of hops in the best routes. In this work, a family of ACO routing protocols based on AntOR is also specified. These protocols are based on protocol successive refinements. In this work, we also present a parallelized version of AntOR that we call PAntOR. Using programming multiprocessor architectures based on the shared memory protocol, PAntOR allows running tasks in parallel using threads. This parallelization is applicable in the route setup phase, route local repair process and link failure notification. In addition, a variant of PAntOR that consists of having more than one interface, which we call PAntOR-MI (PAntOR-Multiple Interface), is specified. This approach parallelizes the sending of broadcast messages by interface through threads.

Differential Sarcomere and Electrophysiological Maturation of Human iPSC-Derived Cardiac Myocytes in Monolayer vs. Aggregation-Based Differentiation Protocols

PubMed Central

Jeziorowska, Dorota; Fontaine, Vincent; Jouve, Charlène; Villard, Eric; Dussaud, Sébastien; Akbar, David; Letang, Valérie; Cervello, Pauline; Itier, Jean-Michiel; Pruniaux, Marie-Pierre; Hulot, Jean-Sébastien

2017-01-01

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) represent a powerful human model to study cardiac disease in vitro, notably channelopathies and sarcomeric cardiomyopathies. Different protocols for cardiac differentiation of iPSCs have been proposed either based on embroid body formation (3D) or, more recently, on monolayer culture (2D). We performed a direct comparison of the characteristics of the derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) on day 27 ± 2 of differentiation between 3D and 2D differentiation protocols with two different Wnt-inhibitors were compared: IWR1 (inhibitor of Wnt response) or IWP2 (inhibitor of Wnt production). We firstly found that the level of Troponin T (TNNT2) expression measured by FACS was significantly higher for both 2D protocols as compared to the 3D protocol. In the three methods, iPSC-CM show sarcomeric structures. However, iPSC-CM generated in 2D protocols constantly displayed larger sarcomere lengths as compared to the 3D protocol. In addition, mRNA and protein analyses reveal higher cTNi to ssTNi ratios in the 2D protocol using IWP2 as compared to both other protocols, indicating a higher sarcomeric maturation. Differentiation of cardiac myocytes with 2D monolayer-based protocols and the use of IWP2 allows the production of higher yield of cardiac myocytes that have more suitable characteristics to study sarcomeric cardiomyopathies. PMID:28587156

A Self-Stabilizing Distributed Clock Synchronization Protocol for Arbitrary Digraphs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malekpour, Mahyar R.

2011-01-01

This report presents a self-stabilizing distributed clock synchronization protocol in the absence of faults in the system. It is focused on the distributed clock synchronization of an arbitrary, non-partitioned digraph ranging from fully connected to 1-connected networks of nodes while allowing for differences in the network elements. This protocol does not rely on assumptions about the initial state of the system, other than the presence of at least one node, and no central clock or a centrally generated signal, pulse, or message is used. Nodes are anonymous, i.e., they do not have unique identities. There is no theoretical limit on the maximum number of participating nodes. The only constraint on the behavior of the node is that the interactions with other nodes are restricted to defined links and interfaces. We present an outline of a deductive proof of the correctness of the protocol. A model of the protocol was mechanically verified using the Symbolic Model Verifier (SMV) for a variety of topologies. Results of the mechanical proof of the correctness of the protocol are provided. The model checking results have verified the correctness of the protocol as they apply to the networks with unidirectional and bidirectional links. In addition, the results confirm the claims of determinism and linear convergence. As a result, we conjecture that the protocol solves the general case of this problem. We also present several variations of the protocol and discuss that this synchronization protocol is indeed an emergent system.

A Self-Stabilizing Synchronization Protocol for Arbitrary Digraphs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malekpour, Mahyar R.

2011-01-01

This paper presents a self-stabilizing distributed clock synchronization protocol in the absence of faults in the system. It is focused on the distributed clock synchronization of an arbitrary, non-partitioned digraph ranging from fully connected to 1-connected networks of nodes while allowing for differences in the network elements. This protocol does not rely on assumptions about the initial state of the system, other than the presence of at least one node, and no central clock or a centrally generated signal, pulse, or message is used. Nodes are anonymous, i.e., they do not have unique identities. There is no theoretical limit on the maximum number of participating nodes. The only constraint on the behavior of the node is that the interactions with other nodes are restricted to defined links and interfaces. This protocol deterministically converges within a time bound that is a linear function of the self-stabilization period. We present an outline of a deductive proof of the correctness of the protocol. A bounded model of the protocol was mechanically verified for a variety of topologies. Results of the mechanical proof of the correctness of the protocol are provided. The model checking results have verified the correctness of the protocol as they apply to the networks with unidirectional and bidirectional links. In addition, the results confirm the claims of determinism and linear convergence. As a result, we conjecture that the protocol solves the general case of this problem. We also present several variations of the protocol and discuss that this synchronization protocol is indeed an emergent system.

Firewall Traversal for CORBA Applications Using an Implementation of Bidirectional IIOP in MICO

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Griffin, Robert I.; Lopez, Isaac (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The Object Management Group (OMG) has added specifications to the General Inter-ORB Protocol (GIOP 1.2), specifically the Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP 1.2), that allow servers and clients on opposing sides of a firewall to reverse roles and still communicate freely. This addition to the GIOP specifications is referred to as Bidirectional GIOP. The implementation of these specifications as applied to communication over TCP/IP connections is referred to as 'Bidirectional Internet Inter-ORB Protocol' or BiDirIIOP. This paper details the implementation and testing of the BiDirIIOP Specification in an open source ORB, MICO, that did not previously support Bidirectional GIOP. It also provides simple contextual information and a description of the OMG GIOP/IIOP messaging protocols.

Robust QKD-based private database queries based on alternative sequences of single-qubit measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, YuGuang; Liu, ZhiChao; Chen, XiuBo; Zhou, YiHua; Shi, WeiMin

2017-12-01

Quantum channel noise may cause the user to obtain a wrong answer and thus misunderstand the database holder for existing QKD-based quantum private query (QPQ) protocols. In addition, an outside attacker may conceal his attack by exploiting the channel noise. We propose a new, robust QPQ protocol based on four-qubit decoherence-free (DF) states. In contrast to existing QPQ protocols against channel noise, only an alternative fixed sequence of single-qubit measurements is needed by the user (Alice) to measure the received DF states. This property makes it easy to implement the proposed protocol by exploiting current technologies. Moreover, to retain the advantage of flexible database queries, we reconstruct Alice's measurement operators so that Alice needs only conditioned sequences of single-qubit measurements.

Virtual Global Transplant Laboratory Standard Operating Procedures for Blood Collection, PBMC Isolation, and Storage.

PubMed

Higdon, Lauren E; Lee, Karim; Tang, Qizhi; Maltzman, Jonathan S

2016-09-01

Research on human immune responses frequently involves the use of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) immediately, or at significantly delayed timepoints, after collection. This requires PBMC isolation from whole blood and cryopreservation for some applications. It is important to standardize protocols for blood collection, PBMC isolation, cryopreservation, and thawing that maximize survival and functionality of PBMC at the time of analysis. This resource includes detailed protocols describing blood collection tubes, isolation of PBMC using a density gradient, cryopreservation of PBMC, and thawing of cells as well as preparation for functional assays. For each protocol, we include important considerations, such as timing, storage temperatures, and freezing rate. In addition, we provide alternatives so that researchers can make informed decisions in determining the optimal protocol for their application.

Advances in Imaging and Management Trends of Traumatic Aortic Injuries.

PubMed

Nagpal, Prashant; Mullan, Brian F; Sen, Indrani; Saboo, Sachin S; Khandelwal, Ashish

2017-05-01

Acute traumatic aortic injury (ATAI) is a life-threatening injury. CT is the imaging tool of choice, and the knowledge of direct and indirect signs of injury, grading system, and current management protocol helps the emergency radiologist to better identify and classify the injury and provide additional details that can impact management options. Newer dual-source CT technology with ultrafast acquisition speed has also influenced the appropriate protocol for imaging in patients with suspected ATAI. This review highlights the imaging protocol in patients with blunt trauma, CT appearance and grading systems of ATAI, management options, and the role of the multidisciplinary team in the management of these patients. We also briefly review the current literature on the definition, treatment, and follow-up protocol in patients with minimal aortic injury.

Water quality monitoring protocol for wadeable streams and rivers in the Northern Great Plains Network

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wilson, Marcia H.; Rowe, Barbara L.; Gitzen, Robert A.; Wilson, Stephen K.; Paintner-Green, Kara J.

2014-01-01

As recommended by Oakley et al. (2003), this protocol provides a narrative and the rationale for selection of streams and rivers within the NGPN that will be measured for water quality, including dissolved oxygen, pH, specific conductivity, and temperature. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) that detail the steps to collect, manage, and disseminate the NGPN water quality data are in an accompanying document. The sampling design documented in this protocol may be updated as monitoring information is collected and interpreted, and as refinement of methodologies develop through time. In addition, evaluation of data and refinement of the program may necessitate potential changes of program objectives. Changes to the NGPN water quality protocols and SOPs will be carefully documented in a revision history log.

Sampling forest regeneration across northern U.S. forests: filling a void in regeneration model input

Treesearch

William H. McWilliams; Charles D. Canham; Randall S. Morin; Katherine Johnson; Paul Roth; James A. Westfall

2012-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis Program of the Northern Research Station (NRS-FIA) has implemented new Advance Tree Seedling Regeneration (ATSR) protocols that include measurements of seedlings down to 2 inches in height. The addition of ATSR protocols is part of an evaluation of NRS-FIA Phase 3 indicator variables to increase sampling intensity from 1/96,000 acres...

GENERIC VERIFICATION PROTOCOL FOR DETERMINATION OF EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS OBTAINED BY USE OF ALTERNATIVE OR REFORMULATED LIQUID FUELS, FUEL ADDITIVES, FUEL EMULSIONS AND LUBRICANTS FOR HIGHWAY AND NONROAD USE DISEL ENGINES AND LIGHT DUTY GASOLINE ENGINES AND VEHICLES

EPA Science Inventory

This report sets standards by which the emissions reduction provided by fuel and lubricant technologies can be tested and be tested in a comparable way. It is a generic protocol under the Environmental Technology Verification program.

Accelerating Coagulation in Traumatic Injuries Using Inorganic Polyphosphate-Coated Silica Nanoparticles in a Swine (Sus scrofa) Model

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-03-13

all information . Use additional pages if necessary.) PROTOCOL #: FDG20160012A DATE: 13 March 2018 PROTOCOL TITLE: Accelerating Coagulation...Investigator Attachments: Attachment 1: Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Abstract Submission (Mandatory) 4 FDG20160012A...Attachment 1 Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Abstract Submission This abstract requires a brief (no more than 200 words) factual summary of the

Determining the Cardiovascular Effect of Partial versus Complete REBOA in a Porcine (Sus scrofa) Model of Hemorrhagic Shock.

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-03-09

all information . Use additional pages if necessary.) PROTOCOL #: FDG20170005A DATE: 9 March 2018 PROTOCOL TITLE: Determining...Investigator Attachments: Attachment 1: Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Abstract Submission (Mandatory) 4 FDG20170005A...Attachment 1 Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Abstract Submission This abstract requires a brief (no more than 200 words) factual summary of the

Asymmetric Bidirectional Controlled Teleportation via Seven-Photon Entangled State

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nie, Yi-you; Sang, Ming-huang

2017-11-01

We propose a protocol of asymmetric bidirectional controlled teleportation by using a seven-photon entangled state. In our protocol, Alice can teleport an arbitrary single-photon state to Bob and at the same time Bob can teleport an arbitrary two-photon state to Alice via the control of the supervisor Charlie. In addition, ones only carry out the Bell-state measurements and single-photon measurement.

Government Open Systems Interconnection Profile (GOSIP) Transition Strategy

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-09-01

it explores some of the GOSIP protocol details and discusses the process by which standards organizations have developed their...version 1 and 2. Additionally, it explores some of the GOSIP protocol details and discusses the process by which standards organizations have developed ...ORGANIZATION OF STUDY 1. The Standards Process Chapter II describes the process whereby standards are developed and adopted by the ISO and how the

Extraction Protocols for Individual Zebrafish's Ventricle Myosin and Skeletal Muscle Actin for In vitro Motility Assays

PubMed Central

Scheid, Lisa-Mareike; Weber, Cornelia; Bopp, Nasrin; Mosqueira, Matias; Fink, Rainer H. A.

2017-01-01

The in vitro motility assay (IVMA) is a technique that enables the measurement of the interaction between actin and myosin providing a relatively simple model to understand the mechanical muscle function. For actin-myosin IVMA, myosin is immobilized in a measurement chamber, where it converts chemical energy provided by ATP hydrolysis into mechanical energy. The result is the movement of fluorescently labeled actin filaments that can be recorded microscopically and analyzed quantitatively. Resulting sliding speeds and patterns help to characterize the underlying actin-myosin interaction that can be affected by different factors such as mutations or active compounds. Additionally, modulatory actions of the regulatory proteins tropomyosin and troponin in the presence of calcium on actin-myosin interaction can be studied with the IVMA. Zebrafish is considered a suitable model organism for cardiovascular and skeletal muscle research. In this context, straightforward protocols for the isolation and use of zebrafish muscle proteins in the IVMA would provide a useful tool in molecular studies. Currently, there are no protocols available for the mentioned purpose. Therefore, we developed fast and easy protocols for characterization of zebrafish proteins in the IVMA. Our protocols enable the interested researcher to (i) isolate actin from zebrafish skeletal muscle and (ii) extract functionally intact myosin from cardiac and skeletal muscle of individual adult zebrafish. Zebrafish tail muscle actin is isolated after acetone powder preparation, polymerized, and labeled with Rhodamine-Phalloidin. Myosin from ventricles of adult zebrafish is extracted directly into IVMA flow-cells. The same extraction protocol is applicable for comparably small tissue pieces as from zebrafish tail, mouse and frog muscle. After addition of the fluorescently labeled F-actin from zebrafish—or other origin—and ATP, sliding movement can be visualized using a fluorescence microscope and an intensified CCD camera. Taken together, we introduce a method for functional analysis in zebrafish cardiac and skeletal muscle research to study mutations at the molecular level of thick or thin filament proteins. Additionally, preliminary data indicate the usefulness of the presented method to perform the IVMA with myosin extracted from muscles of other animal models. PMID:28620318

Optimizing the Protocol for Pulmonary Cryoablation: A Comparison of a Dual- and Triple-Freeze Protocol

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hinshaw, J. Louis, E-mail: jhinshaw@uwhealth.or; Littrup, Peter J.; Durick, Nathan

2010-12-15

The purpose of this study was to compare a double freeze-thaw protocol to a triple freeze-thaw protocol for pulmonary cryoablation utilizing an in vivo porcine lung model. A total of 18 cryoablations were performed in normal porcine lung utilizing percutaneous technique with 9 each in a double- (10-5-10) and triple-freeze (3-3-7-7-5) protocol. Serial noncontrast CT images were obtained during the ablation. CT imaging findings and pathology were reviewed. No imaging changes were identified during the initial freeze cycle with either protocol. However, during the first thaw cycle, a region of ground glass opacity developed around the probe with both protocols.more » Because the initial freeze was shorter with the triple freeze-thaw protocol, the imaging findings were apparent sooner with this protocol (6 vs. 13 min). Also, despite a shorter total freeze time (15 vs. 20 min), the ablation zone identified with the triple freeze-thaw protocol was not significantly different from the double freeze-thaw protocol (mean diameter: 1.67 {+-} 0.41 cm vs. 1.66 {+-} 0.21 cm, P = 0.77; area: 2.1 {+-} 0.48 cm{sup 2} vs. 1.99 {+-} 0.62 cm{sup 2}, P = 0.7; and circularity: 0.95 {+-} 0.04 vs. 0.96 {+-} 0.03, P = 0.62, respectively). This study suggests that there may be several advantages of a triple freeze-thaw protocol for pulmonary cryoablation, including earlier identification of the imaging findings associated with the ablation, the promise of a shorter procedure time or larger zones of ablation, and theoretically, more effective cytotoxicity related to the additional freeze-thaw cycle.« less

Applying an Empirical Hydropathic Forcefield in Refinement May Improve Low-Resolution Protein X-Ray Crystal Structures

PubMed Central

Koparde, Vishal N.; Scarsdale, J. Neel; Kellogg, Glen E.

2011-01-01

Background The quality of X-ray crystallographic models for biomacromolecules refined from data obtained at high-resolution is assured by the data itself. However, at low-resolution, >3.0 Å, additional information is supplied by a forcefield coupled with an associated refinement protocol. These resulting structures are often of lower quality and thus unsuitable for downstream activities like structure-based drug discovery. Methodology An X-ray crystallography refinement protocol that enhances standard methodology by incorporating energy terms from the HINT (Hydropathic INTeractions) empirical forcefield is described. This protocol was tested by refining synthetic low-resolution structural data derived from 25 diverse high-resolution structures, and referencing the resulting models to these structures. The models were also evaluated with global structural quality metrics, e.g., Ramachandran score and MolProbity clashscore. Three additional structures, for which only low-resolution data are available, were also re-refined with this methodology. Results The enhanced refinement protocol is most beneficial for reflection data at resolutions of 3.0 Å or worse. At the low-resolution limit, ≥4.0 Å, the new protocol generated models with Cα positions that have RMSDs that are 0.18 Å more similar to the reference high-resolution structure, Ramachandran scores improved by 13%, and clashscores improved by 51%, all in comparison to models generated with the standard refinement protocol. The hydropathic forcefield terms are at least as effective as Coulombic electrostatic terms in maintaining polar interaction networks, and significantly more effective in maintaining hydrophobic networks, as synthetic resolution is decremented. Even at resolutions ≥4.0 Å, these latter networks are generally native-like, as measured with a hydropathic interactions scoring tool. PMID:21246043

A Mutual Authentication Framework for Wireless Medical Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Srinivas, Jangirala; Mishra, Dheerendra; Mukhopadhyay, Sourav

2017-05-01

Wireless medical sensor networks (WMSN) comprise of distributed sensors, which can sense human physiological signs and monitor the health condition of the patient. It is observed that providing privacy to the patient's data is an important issue and can be challenging. The information passing is done via the public channel in WMSN. Thus, the patient, sensitive information can be obtained by eavesdropping or by unauthorized use of handheld devices which the health professionals use in monitoring the patient. Therefore, there is an essential need of restricting the unauthorized access to the patient's medical information. Hence, the efficient authentication scheme for the healthcare applications is needed to preserve the privacy of the patients' vital signs. To ensure secure and authorized communication in WMSN, we design a symmetric key based authentication protocol for WMSN environment. The proposed protocol uses only computationally efficient operations to achieve lightweight attribute. We analyze the security of the proposed protocol. We use a formal security proof algorithm to show the scheme security against known attacks. We also use the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA) simulator to show protocol secure against man-in-the-middle attack and replay attack. Additionally, we adopt an informal analysis to discuss the key attributes of the proposed scheme. From the formal proof of security, we can see that an attacker has a negligible probability of breaking the protocol security. AVISPA simulator also demonstrates the proposed scheme security against active attacks, namely, man-in-the-middle attack and replay attack. Additionally, through the comparison of computational efficiency and security attributes with several recent results, proposed scheme seems to be battered.

The Role of Additional Pulses in Electropermeabilization Protocols

PubMed Central

Suárez, Cecilia; Soba, Alejandro; Maglietti, Felipe; Olaiz, Nahuel; Marshall, Guillermo

2014-01-01

Electropermeabilization (EP) based protocols such as those applied in medicine, food processing or environmental management, are well established and widely used. The applied voltage, as well as tissue electric conductivity, are of utmost importance for assessing final electropermeabilized area and thus EP effectiveness. Experimental results from literature report that, under certain EP protocols, consecutive pulses increase tissue electric conductivity and even the permeabilization amount. Here we introduce a theoretical model that takes into account this effect in the application of an EP-based protocol, and its validation with experimental measurements. The theoretical model describes the electric field distribution by a nonlinear Laplace equation with a variable conductivity coefficient depending on the electric field, the temperature and the quantity of pulses, and the Penne's Bioheat equation for temperature variations. In the experiments, a vegetable tissue model (potato slice) is used for measuring electric currents and tissue electropermeabilized area in different EP protocols. Experimental measurements show that, during sequential pulses and keeping constant the applied voltage, the electric current density and the blackened (electropermeabilized) area increase. This behavior can only be attributed to a rise in the electric conductivity due to a higher number of pulses. Accordingly, we present a theoretical modeling of an EP protocol that predicts correctly the increment in the electric current density observed experimentally during the addition of pulses. The model also demonstrates that the electric current increase is due to a rise in the electric conductivity, in turn induced by temperature and pulse number, with no significant changes in the electric field distribution. The EP model introduced, based on a novel formulation of the electric conductivity, leads to a more realistic description of the EP phenomenon, hopefully providing more accurate predictions of treatment outcomes. PMID:25437512

CoAP-Based Mobility Management for the Internet of Things

PubMed Central

Chun, Seung-Man; Kim, Hyun-Su; Park, Jong-Tae

2015-01-01

Most of the current mobility management protocols such as Mobile IP and its variants standardized by the IETF may not be suitable to support mobility management for Web-based applications in an Internet of Things (IoT) environment. This is because the sensor nodes have limited power capacity, usually operating in sleep/wakeup mode in a constrained wireless network. In addition, sometimes the sensor nodes may act as the server using the CoAP protocol in an IoT environment. This makes it difficult for Web clients to properly retrieve the sensing data from the mobile sensor nodes in an IoT environment. In this article, we propose a mobility management protocol, named CoMP, which can effectively retrieve the sensing data of sensor nodes while they are moving. The salient feature of CoMP is that it makes use of the IETF CoAP protocol for mobility management, instead of using Mobile IP. Thus CoMP can eliminates the additional signaling overhead of Mobile IP, provides reliable mobility management, and prevents the packet loss. CoMP employs a separate location management server to keep track of the location of the mobile sensor nodes. In order to prevent the loss of important sensing data during movement, a holding mode of operation has been introduced. All the signaling procedures including discovery, registration, binding and holding have been designed by extending the IETF CoAP protocol. The numerical analysis and simulation have been done for performance evaluation in terms of the handover latency and packet loss. The results show that the proposed CoMP is superior to previous mobility management protocols, i.e., Mobile IPv4/v6 (MIPv4/v6), Hierarchical Mobile IPv4/v6 (HMIPv4/v6), in terms of the handover latency and packet loss. PMID:26151214

FOG: Fighting the Achilles' Heel of Gossip Protocols with Fountain Codes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Champel, Mary-Luc; Kermarrec, Anne-Marie; Le Scouarnec, Nicolas

Gossip protocols are well known to provide reliable and robust dissemination protocols in highly dynamic systems. Yet, they suffer from high redundancy in the last phase of the dissemination. In this paper, we combine fountain codes (rateless erasure-correcting codes) together with gossip protocols for a robust and fast content dissemination in large-scale dynamic systems. The use of fountain enables to eliminate the unnecessary redundancy of gossip protocols. We propose the design of FOG, which fully exploits the first exponential growth phase (where the data is disseminated exponentially fast) of gossip protocols while avoiding the need for the shrinking phase by using fountain codes. FOG voluntarily increases the number of disseminations but limits those disseminations to the exponential growth phase. In addition, FOG creates a split-graph overlay that splits the peers between encoders and forwarders. Forwarder peers become encoders as soon as they have received the whole content. In order to benefit even further and quicker from encoders, FOG biases the dissemination towards the most advanced peers to make them complete earlier.

Full-Scale Wind-Tunnel Investigation of Wing-Cooling Ducts Effects of Propeller Slipstream, Special Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nickle, F. R.; Freeman, Arthur B.

1939-01-01

The safety of remotely operated vehicles depends on the correctness of the distributed protocol that facilitates the communication between the vehicle and the operator. A failure in this communication can result in catastrophic loss of the vehicle. To complicate matters, the communication system may be required to satisfy several, possibly conflicting, requirements. The design of protocols is typically an informal process based on successive iterations of a prototype implementation. Yet distributed protocols are notoriously difficult to get correct using such informal techniques. We present a formal specification of the design of a distributed protocol intended for use in a remotely operated vehicle, which is built from the composition of several simpler protocols. We demonstrate proof strategies that allow us to prove properties of each component protocol individually while ensuring that the property is preserved in the composition forming the entire system. Given that designs are likely to evolve as additional requirements emerge, we show how we have automated most of the repetitive proof steps to enable verification of rapidly changing designs.

The use of a photoionization detector to detect harmful volatile chemicals by emergency personnel

PubMed Central

Patel, Neil D; Fales, William D; Farrell, Robert N

2009-01-01

Objective The objective of this investigation was to determine if a photoionization detector (PID) could be used to detect the presence of a simulated harmful chemical on simulated casualties of a chemical release. Methods A screening protocol, based on existing radiation screening protocols, was developed for the purposes of the investigation. Three simulated casualties were contaminated with a simulated chemical agent and two groups of emergency responders were involved in the trials. The success–failure ratio of the participants was used to judge the performance of the PID in this application. Results A high success rate was observed when the screening protocol was properly adhered to (97.67%). Conversely, the success rate suffered when participants deviated from the protocol (86.31%). With one exception, all failures were noted to have been the result of a failure to correctly observe the established screening protocol. Conclusions The results of this investigation indicate that the PID may be an effective screening tool for emergency responders. However, additional study is necessary to both confirm the effectiveness of the PID and refine the screening protocol if necessary. PMID:27147829

A universal data access and protocol integration mechanism for smart home

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shao, Pengfei; Yang, Qi; Zhang, Xuan

2013-03-01

With the lack of standardized or completely missing communication interfaces in home electronics, there is no perfect solution to address every aspect in smart homes based on existing protocols and technologies. In addition, the central control unit (CCU) of smart home system working point-to-point between the multiple application interfaces and the underlying hardware interfaces leads to its complicated architecture and unpleasant performance. A flexible data access and protocol integration mechanism is required. The current paper offers a universal, comprehensive data access and protocol integration mechanism for a smart home. The universal mechanism works as a middleware adapter with unified agreements of the communication interfaces and protocols, offers an abstraction of the application level from the hardware specific and decoupling the hardware interface modules from the application level. Further abstraction for the application interfaces and the underlying hardware interfaces are executed based on adaption layer to provide unified interfaces for more flexible user applications and hardware protocol integration. This new universal mechanism fundamentally changes the architecture of the smart home and in some way meets the practical requirement of smart homes more flexible and desirable.

CHARMM-GUI Input Generator for NAMD, GROMACS, AMBER, OpenMM, and CHARMM/OpenMM Simulations Using the CHARMM36 Additive Force Field

DOE PAGES

Lee, Jumin; Cheng, Xi; Swails, Jason M.; ...

2015-11-12

Here we report that proper treatment of nonbonded interactions is essential for the accuracy of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, especially in studies of lipid bilayers. The use of the CHARMM36 force field (C36 FF) in different MD simulation programs can result in disagreements with published simulations performed with CHARMM due to differences in the protocols used to treat the long-range and 1-4 nonbonded interactions. In this study, we systematically test the use of the C36 lipid FF in NAMD, GROMACS, AMBER, OpenMM, and CHARMM/OpenMM. A wide range of Lennard-Jones (LJ) cutoff schemes and integrator algorithms were tested to find themore » optimal simulation protocol to best match bilayer properties of six lipids with varying acyl chain saturation and head groups. MD simulations of a 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayer were used to obtain the optimal protocol for each program. MD simulations with all programs were found to reasonably match the DPPC bilayer properties (surface area per lipid, chain order parameters, and area compressibility modulus) obtained using the standard protocol used in CHARMM as well as from experiments. The optimal simulation protocol was then applied to the other five lipid simulations and resulted in excellent agreement between results from most simulation programs as well as with experimental data. AMBER compared least favorably with the expected membrane properties, which appears to be due to its use of the hard-truncation in the LJ potential versus a force-based switching function used to smooth the LJ potential as it approaches the cutoff distance. The optimal simulation protocol for each program has been implemented in CHARMM-GUI. This protocol is expected to be applicable to the remainder of the additive C36 FF including the proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and small molecules.« less

CHARMM-GUI Input Generator for NAMD, GROMACS, AMBER, OpenMM, and CHARMM/OpenMM Simulations Using the CHARMM36 Additive Force Field.

PubMed

Lee, Jumin; Cheng, Xi; Swails, Jason M; Yeom, Min Sun; Eastman, Peter K; Lemkul, Justin A; Wei, Shuai; Buckner, Joshua; Jeong, Jong Cheol; Qi, Yifei; Jo, Sunhwan; Pande, Vijay S; Case, David A; Brooks, Charles L; MacKerell, Alexander D; Klauda, Jeffery B; Im, Wonpil

2016-01-12

Proper treatment of nonbonded interactions is essential for the accuracy of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, especially in studies of lipid bilayers. The use of the CHARMM36 force field (C36 FF) in different MD simulation programs can result in disagreements with published simulations performed with CHARMM due to differences in the protocols used to treat the long-range and 1-4 nonbonded interactions. In this study, we systematically test the use of the C36 lipid FF in NAMD, GROMACS, AMBER, OpenMM, and CHARMM/OpenMM. A wide range of Lennard-Jones (LJ) cutoff schemes and integrator algorithms were tested to find the optimal simulation protocol to best match bilayer properties of six lipids with varying acyl chain saturation and head groups. MD simulations of a 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayer were used to obtain the optimal protocol for each program. MD simulations with all programs were found to reasonably match the DPPC bilayer properties (surface area per lipid, chain order parameters, and area compressibility modulus) obtained using the standard protocol used in CHARMM as well as from experiments. The optimal simulation protocol was then applied to the other five lipid simulations and resulted in excellent agreement between results from most simulation programs as well as with experimental data. AMBER compared least favorably with the expected membrane properties, which appears to be due to its use of the hard-truncation in the LJ potential versus a force-based switching function used to smooth the LJ potential as it approaches the cutoff distance. The optimal simulation protocol for each program has been implemented in CHARMM-GUI. This protocol is expected to be applicable to the remainder of the additive C36 FF including the proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and small molecules.

Protocol independent transmission method in software defined optical network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yuze; Li, Hui; Hou, Yanfang; Qiu, Yajun; Ji, Yuefeng

2016-10-01

With the development of big data and cloud computing technology, the traditional software-defined network is facing new challenges (e.i., ubiquitous accessibility, higher bandwidth, more flexible management and greater security). Using a proprietary protocol or encoding format is a way to improve information security. However, the flow, which carried by proprietary protocol or code, cannot go through the traditional IP network. In addition, ultra- high-definition video transmission service once again become a hot spot. Traditionally, in the IP network, the Serial Digital Interface (SDI) signal must be compressed. This approach offers additional advantages but also bring some disadvantages such as signal degradation and high latency. To some extent, HD-SDI can also be regard as a proprietary protocol, which need transparent transmission such as optical channel. However, traditional optical networks cannot support flexible traffics . In response to aforementioned challenges for future network, one immediate solution would be to use NFV technology to abstract the network infrastructure and provide an all-optical switching topology graph for the SDN control plane. This paper proposes a new service-based software defined optical network architecture, including an infrastructure layer, a virtualization layer, a service abstract layer and an application layer. We then dwell on the corresponding service providing method in order to implement the protocol-independent transport. Finally, we experimentally evaluate that proposed service providing method can be applied to transmit the HD-SDI signal in the software-defined optical network.

Human iPS cell-engineered cardiac tissue sheets with cardiomyocytes and vascular cells for cardiac regeneration

PubMed Central

Masumoto, Hidetoshi; Ikuno, Takeshi; Takeda, Masafumi; Fukushima, Hiroyuki; Marui, Akira; Katayama, Shiori; Shimizu, Tatsuya; Ikeda, Tadashi; Okano, Teruo; Sakata, Ryuzo; Yamashita, Jun K.

2014-01-01

To realize cardiac regeneration using human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), strategies for cell preparation, tissue engineering and transplantation must be explored. Here we report a new protocol for the simultaneous induction of cardiomyocytes (CMs) and vascular cells [endothelial cells (ECs)/vascular mural cells (MCs)], and generate entirely hiPSC-engineered cardiovascular cell sheets, which showed advantageous therapeutic effects in infarcted hearts. The protocol adds to a previous differentiation protocol of CMs by using stage-specific supplementation of vascular endothelial cell growth factor for the additional induction of vascular cells. Using this cell sheet technology, we successfully generated physically integrated cardiac tissue sheets (hiPSC-CTSs). HiPSC-CTS transplantation to rat infarcted hearts significantly improved cardiac function. In addition to neovascularization, we confirmed that engrafted human cells mainly consisted of CMs in >40% of transplanted rats four weeks after transplantation. Thus, our HiPSC-CTSs show promise for cardiac regenerative therapy. PMID:25336194

Entanglement enhancement in multimode integrated circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Léger, Zacharie M.; Brodutch, Aharon; Helmy, Amr S.

2018-06-01

The faithful distribution of entanglement in continuous-variable systems is essential to many quantum information protocols. As such, entanglement distillation and enhancement schemes are a cornerstone of many applications. The photon subtraction scheme offers enhancement with a relatively simple setup and has been studied in various scenarios. Motivated by recent advances in integrated optics, particularly the ability to build stable multimode interferometers with squeezed input states, a multimodal extension to the enhancement via photon subtraction protocol is studied. States generated with multiple squeezed input states, rather than a single input source, are shown to be more sensitive to the enhancement protocol, leading to increased entanglement at the output. Numerical results show the gain in entanglement is not monotonic with the number of modes or the degree of squeezing in the additional modes. Consequently, the advantage due to having multiple squeezed input states can be maximized when the number of modes is still relatively small (e.g., four). The requirement for additional squeezing is within the current realm of implementation, making this scheme achievable with present technologies.

Factors Associated with Forensic Nurses Offering HIV nPEP status-post Sexual Assault

PubMed Central

Draughon, Jessica E.; Hauda, William E.; Price, Bonnie; Rotolo, Sue; Austin, Kim Wieczorek; Sheridan, Daniel J.

2014-01-01

Non-occupational post-exposure prophylaxis (nPEP) for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is offered inconsistently to patients who have been sexually assaulted. This may be due to Forensic Nurse Examiner (FNE) programs utilizing diverse nPEP protocols and HIV risk assessment algorithms. This study examines factors associated with FNEs offering nPEP to patients following sexual assault at two FNE programs in urban settings. Offering nPEP is mostly driven by site-specific protocol. At Site 1 in addition to open anal or open genital wounds, the presence of injury to the head or face was associated with FNEs offering nPEP (AOR 64.15, 95%CI [2.12 – 1942.37]). At Site 2, patients assaulted by someone of other race/ethnicity (non-White, non-African American) were 86% less likely to be offered nPEP (AOR 0.14, 95%CI [.03-.72]) than patients assaulted by Whites. In addition to following site specific protocols, future research should further explore the mechanisms influencing clinician decision making. PMID:24733232

Variability of United States Online Rehabilitation Protocols for Proximal Hamstring Tendon Repair.

PubMed

Lightsey, Harry M; Kantrowitz, David E; Swindell, Hasani W; Trofa, David P; Ahmad, Christopher S; Lynch, T Sean

2018-02-01

The optimal postoperative rehabilitation protocol following repair of complete proximal hamstring tendon ruptures is the subject of ongoing investigation, with a need for more standardized regimens and evidence-based modalities. To assess the variability across proximal hamstring tendon repair rehabilitation protocols published online by United States (US) orthopaedic teaching programs. Cross-sectional study. Online proximal hamstring physical therapy protocols from US academic orthopaedic programs were reviewed. A web-based search using the search term complete proximal hamstring repair rehabilitation protocol provided an additional 14 protocols. A comprehensive scoring rubric was developed after review of all protocols and was used to assess each protocol for both the presence of various rehabilitation components and the point at which those components were introduced. Of 50 rehabilitation protocols identified, 35 satisfied inclusion criteria and were analyzed. Twenty-five protocols (71%) recommended immediate postoperative bracing: 12 (34%) prescribed knee bracing, 8 (23%) prescribed hip bracing, and 5 (14%) did not specify the type of brace recommended. Fourteen protocols (40%) advised immediate nonweightbearing with crutches, while 16 protocols (46%) permitted immediate toe-touch weightbearing. Advancement to full weightbearing was allowed at a mean of 7.1 weeks (range, 4-12 weeks). Most protocols (80%) recommended gentle knee and hip passive range of motion and active range of motion, starting at a mean 1.4 weeks (range, 0-3 weeks) and 4.0 weeks (range, 0-6 weeks), respectively. However, only 6 protocols (17%) provided specific time points to initiate full hip and knee range of motion: a mean 8.0 weeks (range, 4-12 weeks) and 7.8 weeks (range, 0-12 weeks), respectively. Considerable variability was noted in the inclusion and timing of strengthening, stretching, proprioception, and cardiovascular exercises. Fifteen protocols (43%) required completion of specific return-to-sport criteria before resuming training. Marked variability is found in both the composition and timing of rehabilitation components across the various complete proximal hamstring repair rehabilitation protocols published online. This finding mirrors the variability of proposed rehabilitation protocols in the professional literature and represents an opportunity to improve patient care.

Safety and cost-effectiveness of a clinical protocol implemented to standardize the use of Crotalidae polyvalent immune Fab antivenom at an academic medical center.

PubMed

Weant, Kyle A; Bowers, Rebecca C; Reed, Janelle; Braun, Kristopher A; Dodd, David M; Baker, Stephanie N

2012-05-01

To evaluate the safety and cost-effectiveness of a clinical protocol adopted in June 2006 that included a comprehensive, objective assessment of snake bite envenomations and standardized the use of Crotalidae polyvalent immune Fab antivenom (FabAV). Retrospective medical record review. Academic medical center that serves as the regional level I trauma center. Seventy-five adults treated with FabAV for snake envenomations in the emergency department between June 1, 2003, and June 1, 2009; 30 patients received treatment according to the protocol (treatment group), and 45 patients received treatment that did not adhere to the protocol (control group). Demographic and envenomation characteristics, as well as treatment details, were collected for all patients. In addition, information on quantity of FabAV vials required, length of hospital stay, and length of intensive care unit stay were compared between the treatment and control groups. In the treatment group, significantly fewer vials of FabAV were used (2.5 vs 4.727 vials, p=0.007). This decreased in usage correlated to a cost savings of approximately $2000/patient. Despite no significant difference in the severity of the envenomations between the two groups (p=0.379), the treatment group experienced a significantly shorter hospital length of stay (1.933 vs 2.791 days, p=0.030). No significant difference in the progression to fasciotomy or the development of allergic reactions was noted between the two groups. Use of a clinical protocol related to snake envenomations resulted in approximately two fewer vials of FabAV required for each patient. In addition, the treatment group experienced a shorter hospital length of stay without a corresponding increase in adverse events or envenomation progression. Data show that use of the protocol was cost-effective. The development of institution-specific multidisciplinary protocols regarding snake bite envenomations is recommended. Clinical pharmacists can play a vital role in the protocol development to ensure that optimal care is provided for this distinct patient population. © 2012 Pharmacotherapy Publications, Inc.

Comparison of protocols measuring diffusion and partition coefficients in the stratum corneum.

PubMed

Rothe, H; Obringer, C; Manwaring, J; Avci, C; Wargniez, W; Eilstein, J; Hewitt, N; Cubberley, R; Duplan, H; Lange, D; Jacques-Jamin, C; Klaric, M; Schepky, A; Grégoire, S

2017-07-01

Partition (K) and diffusion (D) coefficients are important to measure for the modelling of skin penetration of chemicals through the stratum corneum (SC). We compared the feasibility of three protocols for the testing of 50 chemicals in our main studies, using three cosmetics-relevant model chemicals with a wide range of logP values. Protocol 1: SC concentration-depth profile using tape-stripping (measures K SC/v and D SC /H SC 2 , where H SC is the SC thickness); Protocol 2A: incubation of isolated SC with chemical (direct measurement of K SC/v only) and Protocol 2B: diffusion through isolated SC mounted on a Franz cell (measures K SC/v and D SC /H SC 2 , and is based on Fick's laws). K SC/v values for caffeine and resorcinol using Protocol 1 and 2B were within 30% of each other, values using Protocol 2A were ~two-fold higher, and all values were within 10-fold of each other. Only indirect determination of K SC/v by Protocol 2B was different from the direct measurement of K SC/v by Protocol 2A and Protocol 1 for 7-EC. The variability of K SC/v for all three chemicals using Protocol 2B was higher compared to Protocol 1 and 2A. D SC /H SC 2 values for the three chemicals were of the same order of magnitude using all three protocols. Additionally, using Protocol 1, there was very little difference between parameters measured in pig and human SC. In conclusion, K SC/v, and D SC values were comparable using different methods. Pig skin might be a good surrogate for human skin for the three chemicals tested. Copyright © 2017 The Authors Journal of Applied Toxicology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Copyright © 2017 The Authors Journal of Applied Toxicology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Noisy processing and distillation of private quantum States.

PubMed

Renes, Joseph M; Smith, Graeme

2007-01-12

We provide a simple security proof for prepare and measure quantum key distribution protocols employing noisy processing and one-way postprocessing of the key. This is achieved by showing that the security of such a protocol is equivalent to that of an associated key distribution protocol in which, instead of the usual maximally entangled states, a more general private state is distilled. In addition to a more general target state, the usual entanglement distillation tools are employed (in particular, Calderbank-Shor-Steane-like codes), with the crucial difference that noisy processing allows some phase errors to be left uncorrected without compromising the privacy of the key.

Privacy-preserving data aggregation protocols for wireless sensor networks: a survey.

PubMed

Bista, Rabindra; Chang, Jae-Woo

2010-01-01

Many wireless sensor network (WSN) applications require privacy-preserving aggregation of sensor data during transmission from the source nodes to the sink node. In this paper, we explore several existing privacy-preserving data aggregation (PPDA) protocols for WSNs in order to provide some insights on their current status. For this, we evaluate the PPDA protocols on the basis of such metrics as communication and computation costs in order to demonstrate their potential for supporting privacy-preserving data aggregation in WSNs. In addition, based on the existing research, we enumerate some important future research directions in the field of privacy-preserving data aggregation for WSNs.

Statistical performance evaluation of ECG transmission using wireless networks.

PubMed

Shakhatreh, Walid; Gharaibeh, Khaled; Al-Zaben, Awad

2013-07-01

This paper presents simulation of the transmission of biomedical signals (using ECG signal as an example) over wireless networks. Investigation of the effect of channel impairments including SNR, pathloss exponent, path delay and network impairments such as packet loss probability; on the diagnosability of the received ECG signal are presented. The ECG signal is transmitted through a wireless network system composed of two communication protocols; an 802.15.4- ZigBee protocol and an 802.11b protocol. The performance of the transmission is evaluated using higher order statistics parameters such as kurtosis and Negative Entropy in addition to the common techniques such as the PRD, RMS and Cross Correlation.

A Robust and Efficient Quantum Private Comparison of Equality Based on the Entangled Swapping of GHZ-like State and χ + State

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Ling; Zhao, Zhiwen

2017-08-01

A new quantum protocol with the assistance of a semi-honest third party (TP) is proposed, which allows the participants comparing the equality of their private information without disclosing them. Different from previous protocols, this protocol utilizes quantum key distribution against the collective-dephasing noise and the collective-rotation noise, which is more robust and abandons few samples, to transmit the classical information. In addition, this protocol utilizes the GHZ-like state and the χ + state to produce the entanglement swapping. And the Bell basis and the dual basis are used to measure the particle pair so that 3 bits of each participant's private information can be compared in each comparison time, which is more efficient and consumes fewer comparison times. Meanwhile, there is no need of unitary operation and hash function in this protocol. At the end, various kinds of outside attack and participant attack are discussed and analyzed to be invalid, so it can complete the comparison in security.

A Robust and Energy-Efficient Transport Protocol for Cognitive Radio Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Salim, Shelly; Moh, Sangman

2014-01-01

A cognitive radio sensor network (CRSN) is a wireless sensor network in which sensor nodes are equipped with cognitive radio. CRSNs benefit from cognitive radio capabilities such as dynamic spectrum access and transmission parameters reconfigurability; but cognitive radio also brings additional challenges and leads to higher energy consumption. Motivated to improve the energy efficiency in CRSNs, we propose a robust and energy-efficient transport protocol (RETP). The novelties of RETP are two-fold: (I) it combines distributed channel sensing and channel decision with centralized schedule-based data transmission; and (II) it differentiates the types of data transmission on the basis of data content and adopts different acknowledgment methods for different transmission types. To the best of our knowledge, no transport layer protocols have yet been designed for CRSNs. Simulation results show that the proposed protocol achieves remarkably longer network lifetime and shorter event-detection delay compared to those achieved with a conventional transport protocol, while simultaneously preserving event-detection reliability. PMID:25333288

Modified CTAB and TRIzol protocols improve RNA extraction from chemically complex Embryophyta1

PubMed Central

Jordon-Thaden, Ingrid E.; Chanderbali, Andre S.; Gitzendanner, Matthew A.; Soltis, Douglas E.

2015-01-01

Premise of the study: Here we present a series of protocols for RNA extraction across a diverse array of plants; we focus on woody, aromatic, aquatic, and other chemically complex taxa. Methods and Results: Ninety-one taxa were subjected to RNA extraction with three methods presented here: (1) TRIzol/TURBO DNA-free kits using the manufacturer’s protocol with the addition of sarkosyl; (2) a combination method using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and TRIzol/sarkosyl/TURBO DNA-free; and (3) a combination of CTAB and QIAGEN RNeasy Plant Mini Kit. Bench-ready protocols are given. Conclusions: After an iterative process of working with chemically complex taxa, we conclude that the use of TRIzol supplemented with sarkosyl and the TURBO DNA-free kit is an effective, efficient, and robust method for obtaining RNA from 100 mg of leaf tissue of land plant species (Embryophyta) examined. Our protocols can be used to provide RNA of suitable stability, quantity, and quality for transcriptome sequencing. PMID:25995975

Loss-tolerant quantum secure positioning with weak laser sources

DOE PAGES

Lim, Charles Ci Wen; Xu, Feihu; Siopsis, George; ...

2016-09-14

Quantum position verification (QPV) is the art of verifying the geographical location of an untrusted party. It has recently been shown that the widely studied Bennett & Brassard 1984 (BB84) QPV protocol is insecure after the 3 dB loss point assuming local operations and classical communication (LOCC) adversaries. Here in this paper, we propose a time-reversed entanglement swapping QPV protocol (based on measurement-device-independent quantum cryptography) that is highly robust against quantum channel loss. First, assuming ideal qubit sources, we show that the protocol is secure against LOCC adversaries for any quantum channel loss, thereby overcoming the 3 dB loss limit.more » Then, we analyze the security of the protocol in a more practical setting involving weak laser sources and linear optics. Lastly, in this setting, we find that the security only degrades by an additive constant and the protocol is able to verify positions up to 47 dB channel loss.« less

Optimization of Native and Formaldehyde iPOND Techniques for Use in Suspension Cells.

PubMed

Wiest, Nathaniel E; Tomkinson, Alan E

2017-01-01

The isolation of proteins on nascent DNA (iPOND) technique developed by the Cortez laboratory allows a previously unparalleled ability to examine proteins associated with replicating and newly synthesized DNA in mammalian cells. Both the original, formaldehyde-based iPOND technique and a more recent derivative, accelerated native iPOND (aniPOND), have mostly been performed in adherent cell lines. Here, we describe modifications to both protocols for use with suspension cell lines. These include cell culture, pulse, and chase conditions that optimize sample recovery in both protocols using suspension cells and several key improvements to the published aniPOND technique that reduce sample loss, increase signal to noise, and maximize sample recovery. Additionally, we directly and quantitatively compare the iPOND and aniPOND protocols to test the strengths and limitations of both. Finally, we present a detailed protocol to perform the optimized aniPOND protocol in suspension cell lines. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spain to Join ESO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2006-02-01

Today, during a ceremony in Madrid, an agreement was signed by the Spanish Minister of Education and Science, Mrs. María Jesús San Segundo, and the ESO Director General, Dr. Catherine Cesarsky, affirming their commitment to securing Spanish membership of ESO. ESO PR Photo 05a/06 ESO PR Photo 05a/06 Signature Event in Madrid Following approval by the Spanish Council of Ministers and the ratification by the Spanish Parliament of the ESO Convention and the associated protocols, Spain intends to become ESO's 12th member state on 1 July 2006. "Since long Spain was aware that entering ESO was a logical decision and it was even necessary for a country like Spain because Spain is ranked 8th in astrophysical research", said Mrs. María Jesús San Segundo. "The large scientific installations are not only necessary for research in different fields but are also partners and customers for hi-tech companies, helping to increase the funding of R&D." "Spanish Astronomy has made tremendous strides forward and we are delighted to welcome Spain as a new member of ESO. We very much look forward to working together with our excellent Spanish colleagues," said Dr. Cesarsky. "For ESO, the Spanish accession means that we can draw on the scientific and technological competences, some of them unique in Europe, that have been developed in Spain and, of course, for Europe the Spanish membership of ESO is an important milestone in the construction of the European Research Area." ESO PR Photo 05b/06 ESO PR Photo 05b/06 Signature Event in Madrid Indeed, Spain is an important member of the European astronomical community and has developed impressively over the last three decades, reaching maturity with major contributions in virtually all subjects of astronomy. In addition, Spain hosts, operates or owns a number of competitive facilities dedicated to foster astronomical research, among which the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos at La Palma, certainly the premier optical/infrared astronomical observing site in Europe and site of the Spanish 10m GranTeCan telescope now nearing completion. With the high quality of Spanish astronomical research as well as the technological competence of Spanish industry, it is only fitting that Spain should join ESO, world-leader in ground-based astronomy. Through ESO Spain will enjoy full access both to all of ESO's current facilities and to unrestricted participation in the great projects that ESO is planning for the future. Spain is already an active partner of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), whose construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO. ESO's Council approved the admission of Spain at its 107th meeting held in Garching on 7 and 8 December 2005. High resolution images and their captions are available on this page.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and U.S. Pediatric Bioethicists.

PubMed

Lang, Kellie R; Lew, Cheryl D

2016-01-01

In exploring the relationship between "child rights" and "pediatric bioethics" and how these disciplines might provide mutual support in advancing the health and wellness of children around the world, our article responds to the questions of whether the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) could be of any benefit in the United States, the only country that has not yet ratified this international treaty, and whether the CRC has any value for addressing clinical pediatric bioethics' questions. We describe the considerable influence that the United States had in developing significant components of the CRC, and we argue that the CRC may be useful for U.S. pediatric bioethicists as a tool to advance children's health policy. We note that ratification of the CRC does not equate with compliance or success. Lastly, we identify a distinction between the use of the term "best interests" by child rights advocates and its use by clinical pediatric bioethicists.

Development of a strategic plan by the Mozambican Association of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists: direct and indirect effects.

PubMed

Osman, Nafissa B; Almeida, Maria L; Ustá, Momade B; Bique, Cassimo; David, Ernestina

2014-10-01

The Mozambican Association of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (AMOG) received support from the FIGO Leadership in Obstetrics and Gynecology for Impact and Change (LOGIC) Initiative in Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) to strengthen its organizational capacity and to assume leadership in MNH through the development of a strategic plan. The planning process involved identification of key stakeholders; analysis of strengths and weaknesses; stakeholder consultation; consultation with AMOG members; and ratification at the annual general meeting. The participatory process led to the development of vision and mission statements. Furthermore, core values and strategic goals were identified: (1) to contribute to the implementation of governmental plans for improving MNH; (2) to assume leadership in advancing the practice of obstetrics and gynecology through education and training; and (3) to continue to strengthen organizational capacity. Consequently, relationships among members were reinforced and the visibility and recognition of AMOG as a key stakeholder in MNH increased. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Multilevel Governance and Shared Sovereignty: European Union, Member States, and the FCTC

PubMed Central

MAMUDU, HADII M.; STUDLAR, DONLEY T.

2010-01-01

The Westphalian idea of sovereignty in international relations has undergone recent transformation. “Shared sovereignty” through multilevel governance describes the responsibility of the European Union (EU) and its Member States in tobacco control policy. We examine how this has occurred on the EU level through directives and recommendations, accession rules for new members, tobacco control campaigns, and financial support for antitobacco nongovernmental organizations. In particular, the negotiation and ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the participation in the FCTC Conference of the Parties illustrates shared sovereignty. The EU Commission was the lead negotiator for Member States on issues over which it had jurisdiction, while individual Member States, through the EU presidency, could negotiate on issues on which authority was divided or remained with them. Shared sovereignty through multilevel governance has become the norm in the tobacco control policy area for EU members, including having one international organization negotiate within the context of another. PMID:20622934

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the adoption of domestic tobacco control policies: the Ecuadorian experience.

PubMed

Albuja, S; Daynard, R A

2009-02-01

The present work concerns the adoption of domestic tobacco control legislation in Ecuador after ratification of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Analysis of legislation, and data collection via interviews with key actors involved in the adoption and implementation of domestic legislation passed purportedly to implement the FCTC and research of the Ecuadorian Congressional Archives. While the FCTC helped raise awareness about tobacco's imminent and future threats to public health, paradoxically, it had the effect of further entrenching tobacco-friendly norms. Philip Morris, with 87% dominance over the Ecuadorian tobacco market, subtly harnessed the FCTC to protect its interests. This outcome was also influenced by poor governmental readiness and intervention, lack of legislative technical capabilities and weak civil society involvement. The Ecuadorian experience suggests that more support should be provided to health ministries, legislatures and local tobacco control organisations to offset the power of the tobacco industry as developing nations get ready to adopt domestic tobacco control legislation.

Survey and Recording Technologies in Italian Underwater Cultural Heritage: Research and Public Access Within the Framework of the 2001 UNESCO Convention

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Secci, Massimiliano

2017-08-01

The 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage is slowly but peremptorily becoming a standard reference tool for underwater archaeology and underwater cultural heritage management. The many provisions included within the Convention touch on many aspects that are key to an effective protection and promotion of the underwater cultural heritage. Within the web of these provisions many aspects are gaining consideration and driving research in underwater archaeology worldwide. These provisions, when seen within a wider frame of social, economical and technological dynamics, pinpoint many aspects requiring further scrutiny from the disciplinary circle. In the framework of the 2001 UNESCO Convention, this article will analyze the path traveled in technological acquisition in the practice of Italian underwater archaeology and how this has affected the approach to underwater cultural heritage management, particularly highlighting how this process has been further influenced by the adoption in 2001 of the Convention and Italy's ratification of it in 2010.

Cross-National Variations in Student Employment and Academic Performance: The Roles of National Context and International Law*

PubMed Central

Byun, Soo-yong; Henck, Adrienne; Post, David

2014-01-01

Most existing research indicates that working students perform more poorly than do full-time students on standardized achievement tests. However, we know there are wide international variations in this gap. This article shows that national and international contexts help to explain the gap in the academic performance between working and non-working middle-school students. We combined data from the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) eighth-grade assessment with the country specific information on socioeconomic and educational conditions, as well as the timing of each country's ratification of an international treaty regulating child labor. Our multilevel analyses show that, while student employment was generally negatively associated with academic performance, this negative association is smaller in countries that by 1995 had ratified the International Labour Organization's Convention No. 138 on child labor. These findings highlight the role of national and international policy in structuring the consequences of student employment for academic performance. PMID:25632163

In Situ Chemical Oxidation for Groundwater Remediation: Site-Specific Engineering & Technology Application

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-10-01

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Colorado School of Mines,1500 Illinois St, Golden ,CO,80401 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9...Protocol page 13 Overall ISCO Protocol Flow Diagram addition, laboratory studies may be used to select optimal chemistry parameters to maximize oxidant...Design Process 5. Because of the complexity of these oxidants’ chemistry and implementation, with much of the knowledge base residing with those

Extending IPsec for Efficient Remote Attestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadeghi, Ahmad-Reza; Schulz, Steffen

When establishing a VPN to connect different sites of a network, the integrity of the involved VPN endpoints is often a major security concern. Based on the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), available in many computing platforms today, remote attestation mechanisms can be used to evaluate the internal state of remote endpoints automatically. However, existing protocols and extensions are either unsuited for use with IPsec or impose considerable additional implementation complexity and protocol overhead.

Thermodynamic equilibrium solubility measurements in simulated fluids by 96-well plate method in early drug discovery.

PubMed

Bharate, Sonali S; Vishwakarma, Ram A

2015-04-01

An early prediction of solubility in physiological media (PBS, SGF and SIF) is useful to predict qualitatively bioavailability and absorption of lead candidates. Despite of the availability of multiple solubility estimation methods, none of the reported method involves simplified fixed protocol for diverse set of compounds. Therefore, a simple and medium-throughput solubility estimation protocol is highly desirable during lead optimization stage. The present work introduces a rapid method for assessment of thermodynamic equilibrium solubility of compounds in aqueous media using 96-well microplate. The developed protocol is straightforward to set up and takes advantage of the sensitivity of UV spectroscopy. The compound, in stock solution in methanol, is introduced in microgram quantities into microplate wells followed by drying at an ambient temperature. Microplates were shaken upon addition of test media and the supernatant was analyzed by UV method. A plot of absorbance versus concentration of a sample provides saturation point, which is thermodynamic equilibrium solubility of a sample. The established protocol was validated using a large panel of commercially available drugs and with conventional miniaturized shake flask method (r(2)>0.84). Additionally, the statistically significant QSPR models were established using experimental solubility values of 52 compounds. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Secure and scalable deduplication of horizontally partitioned health data for privacy-preserving distributed statistical computation.

PubMed

Yigzaw, Kassaye Yitbarek; Michalas, Antonis; Bellika, Johan Gustav

2017-01-03

Techniques have been developed to compute statistics on distributed datasets without revealing private information except the statistical results. However, duplicate records in a distributed dataset may lead to incorrect statistical results. Therefore, to increase the accuracy of the statistical analysis of a distributed dataset, secure deduplication is an important preprocessing step. We designed a secure protocol for the deduplication of horizontally partitioned datasets with deterministic record linkage algorithms. We provided a formal security analysis of the protocol in the presence of semi-honest adversaries. The protocol was implemented and deployed across three microbiology laboratories located in Norway, and we ran experiments on the datasets in which the number of records for each laboratory varied. Experiments were also performed on simulated microbiology datasets and data custodians connected through a local area network. The security analysis demonstrated that the protocol protects the privacy of individuals and data custodians under a semi-honest adversarial model. More precisely, the protocol remains secure with the collusion of up to N - 2 corrupt data custodians. The total runtime for the protocol scales linearly with the addition of data custodians and records. One million simulated records distributed across 20 data custodians were deduplicated within 45 s. The experimental results showed that the protocol is more efficient and scalable than previous protocols for the same problem. The proposed deduplication protocol is efficient and scalable for practical uses while protecting the privacy of patients and data custodians.

Radiation safety protocol using real-time dose reporting reduces patient exposure in pediatric electrophysiology procedures.

PubMed

Patel, Akash R; Ganley, Jamie; Zhu, Xiaowei; Rome, Jonathan J; Shah, Maully; Glatz, Andrew C

2014-10-01

Radiation exposure during pediatric catheterization is significant. We sought to describe radiation exposure and the effectiveness of radiation safety protocols in reducing exposure during catheter ablations with electrophysiology studies in children and patients with congenital heart disease. We additionally sought to identify at-risk patients. We retrospectively reviewed all interventional electrophysiology procedures performed from April 2009 to September 2011 (6 months preceding intervention, 12 months following implementation of initial radiation safety protocol, and 8 months following implementation of modified protocol). The protocols consisted of low pulse rate fluoroscopy settings, operator notification of skin entrance dose every 1,000 mGy, adjusting cameras by >5 at every 1,000 mGy, and appropriate collimation. The cohort consisted of 291 patients (70 pre-intervention, 137 after initial protocol implementation, 84 after modified protocol implementation) at a median age of 14.9 years with congenital heart disease present in 11 %. Diagnoses included atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (25 %), atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia (61 %), atrial tachycardias (12 %), and ventricular tachycardia (2 %). There were no differences between groups based on patient, arrhythmia, and procedural characteristics. Following implementation of the protocols, there were significant reductions in all measures of radiation exposure: fluoroscopy time (17.8 %), dose area product (80.2 %), skin entry dose (81.0 %), and effective dose (76.9 %), p = 0.0001. Independent predictors of increased radiation exposure included larger patient weight, longer fluoroscopy time, and lack of radiation safety protocol. Implementation of a radiation safety protocol for pediatric and congenital catheter ablations can drastically reduce radiation exposure to patients without affecting procedural success.

Optimization of 64-MDCT urography: effect of dual-phase imaging with furosemide on collecting system opacification and radiation dose.

PubMed

Portnoy, Orith; Guranda, Larisa; Apter, Sara; Eiss, David; Amitai, Marianne Michal; Konen, Eli

2011-11-01

The purpose of this study was to compare opacification of the urinary collecting system and radiation dose associated with three-phase 64-MDCT urographic protocols and those associated with a split-bolus dual-phase protocol including furosemide. Images from 150 CT urographic examinations performed with three scanning protocols were retrospectively evaluated. Group A consisted of 50 sequentially registered patients who underwent a three-phase protocol with saline infusion. Group B consisted of 50 sequentially registered patients who underwent a reduced-radiation three-phase protocol with saline. Group C consisted of 50 sequentially registered patients who underwent a dual-phase split-bolus protocol that included a low-dose furosemide injection. Opacification of the urinary collecting system was evaluated with segmental binary scoring. Contrast artifacts were evaluated, and radiation doses were recorded. Results were compared by analysis of variance. A significant reduction in mean effective radiation dose was found between groups A and B (p < 0.001) and between groups B and C (p < 0.001), resulting in 65% reduction between groups A and C (p < 0.001). This reduction did not significantly affect opacification score in any of the 12 urinary segments (p = 0.079). In addition, dense contrast artifacts overlying the renal parenchyma observed with the three-phase protocols (groups A and B) were avoided with the dual-phase protocol (group C) (p < 0.001). A dual-phase protocol with furosemide injection is the preferable technique for CT urography. In comparison with commonly used three-phase protocols, the dual-phase protocol significantly reduces radiation exposure dose without reduction in image quality.

Implementation of a Multidisciplinary Bleeding and Transfusion Protocol Significantly Decreases Perioperative Blood Product Utilization and Improves Some Bleeding Outcomes.

PubMed

Timpa, Joseph G; O'Meara, L Carlisle; Goldberg, Kellen G; Phillips, Jay P; Crawford, Jack H; Jackson, Kimberly W; Alten, Jeffrey A

2016-03-01

Perioperative transfusion of blood products is associated with increased morbidity and mortality after pediatric cardiac surgery. We report the results of a quality improvement project aimed at decreasing perioperative blood product administration and bleeding after pediatric cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) surgery. A multidisciplinary team evaluated baseline data from 99 consecutive CPB patients, focusing on the variability in transfusion management and bleeding outcomes, to create a standardized bleeding and transfusion management protocol. A total of 62 subsequent patients were evaluated after implementation of the protocol: 17 with single pass hemoconcentrated (SPHC) blood transfusion and 45 with modified ultrafiltration (MUF). Implementation of the protocol with SPHC blood led to significant decrease in transfusion of every blood product in the cardiovascular operating room and first 6 hours in cardiovascular intensive care unit ([CVICU] p < .05). Addition of MUF to the protocol led to further decrease in transfusion of all blood products compared to preprotocol. Patients <2 months old had 49% decrease in total blood product administration: 155 mL/kg preprotocol, 117 mL/kg protocol plus SPHC, and 79 mL/kg protocol plus MUF (p < .01). There were significant decreases in postoperative bleeding in the first hour after CVICU admission: 6 mL/kg preprotocol, 3.8 mL/kg protocol plus SPHC, and 2 mL/kg protocol plusMUF (p = .02). There was also significantly decreased incidence of severe postoperative bleeding (>10 mL/kg) in the first CVICU hour for protocol plus MUF patients (p < .01). Implementation of a multidisciplinary bleeding and transfusion protocol significantly decreases perioperative blood product transfusion and improves some bleeding outcomes.

Accuracy of prehospital triage protocols in selecting severely injured patients: A systematic review.

PubMed

van Rein, Eveline A J; Houwert, R Marijn; Gunning, Amy C; Lichtveld, Rob A; Leenen, Luke P H; van Heijl, Mark

2017-08-01

Prehospital trauma triage ensures proper transport of patients at risk of severe injury to hospitals with an appropriate corresponding level of trauma care. Incorrect triage results in undertriage and overtriage. The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma recommends an undertriage rate below 5% and an overtriage rate below 50% for prehospital trauma triage protocols. To find the most accurate prehospital trauma triage protocol, a clear overview of all currently available protocols and corresponding outcomes is necessary. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the current literature on all available prehospital trauma triage protocols and determine accuracy of protocol-based triage quality in terms of sensitivity and specificity. A search of Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases was performed to identify all studies describing prehospital trauma triage protocols before November 2016. The search terms included "trauma," "trauma center," or "trauma system" combined with "triage," "undertriage," or "overtriage." All studies describing protocol-based triage quality were reviewed. To assess the quality of these type of studies, a new critical appraisal tool was developed. In this review, 21 articles were included with numbers of patients ranging from 130 to over 1 million. Significant predictors for severe injury were: vital signs, suspicion of certain anatomic injuries, mechanism of injury, and age. Sensitivity ranged from 10% to 100%; specificity from 9% to 100%. Nearly all protocols had a low sensitivity, thereby failing to identify severely injured patients. Additionally, the critical appraisal showed poor quality of the majority of included studies. This systematic review shows that nearly all protocols are incapable of identifying severely injured patients. Future studies of high methodological quality should be performed to improve prehospital trauma triage protocols. Systematic review, level III.

A Family of ACO Routing Protocols for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

PubMed Central

Rupérez Cañas, Delfín; Sandoval Orozco, Ana Lucila; García Villalba, Luis Javier; Kim, Tai-hoon

2017-01-01

In this work, an ACO routing protocol for mobile ad hoc networks based on AntHocNet is specified. As its predecessor, this new protocol, called AntOR, is hybrid in the sense that it contains elements from both reactive and proactive routing. Specifically, it combines a reactive route setup process with a proactive route maintenance and improvement process. Key aspects of the AntOR protocol are the disjoint-link and disjoint-node routes, separation between the regular pheromone and the virtual pheromone in the diffusion process and the exploration of routes, taking into consideration the number of hops in the best routes. In this work, a family of ACO routing protocols based on AntOR is also specified. These protocols are based on protocol successive refinements. In this work, we also present a parallelized version of AntOR that we call PAntOR. Using programming multiprocessor architectures based on the shared memory protocol, PAntOR allows running tasks in parallel using threads. This parallelization is applicable in the route setup phase, route local repair process and link failure notification. In addition, a variant of PAntOR that consists of having more than one interface, which we call PAntOR-MI (PAntOR-Multiple Interface), is specified. This approach parallelizes the sending of broadcast messages by interface through threads. PMID:28531159

Advances in Imaging and Management Trends of Traumatic Aortic Injuries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nagpal, Prashant, E-mail: drprashantnagpal@gmail.com, E-mail: Prashant-nagpal@uiowa.edu; Mullan, Brian F.; Sen, Indrani

Acute traumatic aortic injury (ATAI) is a life-threatening injury. CT is the imaging tool of choice, and the knowledge of direct and indirect signs of injury, grading system, and current management protocol helps the emergency radiologist to better identify and classify the injury and provide additional details that can impact management options. Newer dual-source CT technology with ultrafast acquisition speed has also influenced the appropriate protocol for imaging in patients with suspected ATAI. This review highlights the imaging protocol in patients with blunt trauma, CT appearance and grading systems of ATAI, management options, and the role of the multidisciplinary teammore » in the management of these patients. We also briefly review the current literature on the definition, treatment, and follow-up protocol in patients with minimal aortic injury.« less

Automated processing of first-pass radioisotope ventriculography data to determine essential central circulation parameters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krotov, Aleksei; Pankin, Victor

2017-09-01

The assessment of central circulation (including heart function) parameters is vital in the preventive diagnostics of inherent and acquired heart failures and during polychemotherapy. The protocols currently applied in Russia do not fully utilize the first-pass assessment (FPRNA) and that results in poor data formalization, while the FPRNA is the one of the fastest, affordable and compact methods among other radioisotope diagnostics protocols. A non-imaging algorithm basing on existing protocols has been designed to use the readings of an additional detector above vena subclavia to determine the total blood volume (TBV), not requiring blood sampling in contrast to current protocols. An automated processing of precordial detector readings is presented, in order to determine the heart strike volume (SV). Two techniques to estimate the ejection fraction (EF) of the heart are discussed.

Entropy uncertainty relations and stability of phase-temporal quantum cryptography with finite-length transmitted strings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Molotkov, S. N., E-mail: sergei.molotkov@gmail.com

2012-12-15

Any key-generation session contains a finite number of quantum-state messages, and it is there-fore important to understand the fundamental restrictions imposed on the minimal length of a string required to obtain a secret key with a specified length. The entropy uncertainty relations for smooth min and max entropies considerably simplify and shorten the proof of security. A proof of security of quantum key distribution with phase-temporal encryption is presented. This protocol provides the maximum critical error compared to other protocols up to which secure key distribution is guaranteed. In addition, unlike other basic protocols (of the BB84 type), which aremore » vulnerable with respect to an attack by 'blinding' of avalanche photodetectors, this protocol is stable with respect to such an attack and guarantees key security.« less

W-MAC: A Workload-Aware MAC Protocol for Heterogeneous Convergecast in Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Xia, Ming; Dong, Yabo; Lu, Dongming

2011-01-01

The power consumption and latency of existing MAC protocols for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are high in heterogeneous convergecast, where each sensor node generates different amounts of data in one convergecast operation. To solve this problem, we present W-MAC, a workload-aware MAC protocol for heterogeneous convergecast in WSNs. A subtree-based iterative cascading scheduling mechanism and a workload-aware time slice allocation mechanism are proposed to minimize the power consumption of nodes, while offering a low data latency. In addition, an efficient schedule adjustment mechanism is provided for adapting to data traffic variation and network topology change. Analytical and simulation results show that the proposed protocol provides a significant energy saving and latency reduction in heterogeneous convergecast, and can effectively support data aggregation to further improve the performance. PMID:22163753

Estimation of photosynthesis in cyanobacteria by pulse-amplitude modulation chlorophyll fluorescence: problems and solutions.

PubMed

Ogawa, Takako; Misumi, Masahiro; Sonoike, Kintake

2017-09-01

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes and widely used for photosynthetic research as model organisms. Partly due to their prokaryotic nature, however, estimation of photosynthesis by chlorophyll fluorescence measurements is sometimes problematic in cyanobacteria. For example, plastoquinone pool is reduced in the dark-acclimated samples in many cyanobacterial species so that conventional protocol developed for land plants cannot be directly applied for cyanobacteria. Even for the estimation of the simplest chlorophyll fluorescence parameter, F v /F m , some additional protocol such as addition of DCMU or illumination of weak blue light is necessary. In this review, those problems in the measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence in cyanobacteria are introduced, and solutions to those problems are given.

The Evolution of Children's Mental Addition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashcraft, Mark H.; Hamann, Mary Sue

Students in grades 1, 4, 7, and 10 were tested in a two-part investigation of simple and complex mental addition (with college students as a reference point). One session involved a normal reaction time task in which children made true/false judgments about a series of addition examples. The other session involved a verbal protocol interview, the…

Routing Protocols for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks: Taxonomy, Research Challenges, Routing Strategies and Future Directions.

PubMed

Khan, Anwar; Ali, Ihsan; Ghani, Abdullah; Khan, Nawsher; Alsaqer, Mohammed; Rahman, Atiq Ur; Mahmood, Hasan

2018-05-18

Recent research in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) has gained the attention of researchers in academia and industry for a number of applications. They include disaster and earthquake prediction, water quality and environment monitoring, leakage and mine detection, military surveillance and underwater navigation. However, the aquatic medium is associated with a number of limitations and challenges: long multipath delay, high interference and noise, harsh environment, low bandwidth and limited battery life of the sensor nodes. These challenges demand research techniques and strategies to be overcome in an efficient and effective fashion. The design of routing protocols for UWSNs is one of the promising solutions to cope with these challenges. This paper presents a survey of the routing protocols for UWSNs. For the ease of description, the addressed routing protocols are classified into two groups: localization-based and localization-free protocols. These groups are further subdivided according to the problems they address or the major parameters they consider during routing. Unlike the existing surveys, this survey considers only the latest and state-of-the-art routing protocols. In addition, every protocol is described in terms of its routing strategy and the problem it addresses and solves. The merit(s) of each protocol is (are) highlighted along with the cost. A description of the protocols in this fashion has a number of advantages for researchers, as compared to the existing surveys. Firstly, the description of the routing strategy of each protocol makes its routing operation easily understandable. Secondly, the demerit(s) of a protocol provides (provide) insight into overcoming its flaw(s) in future investigation. This, in turn, leads to the foundation of new protocols that are more intelligent, robust and efficient with respect to the desired parameters. Thirdly, a protocol can be selected for the appropriate application based on its described merit(s). Finally, open challenges and research directions are presented for future investigation.

Routing Protocols for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks: Taxonomy, Research Challenges, Routing Strategies and Future Directions

PubMed Central

Ghani, Abdullah; Alsaqer, Mohammed; Rahman, Atiq Ur; Mahmood, Hasan

2018-01-01

Recent research in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) has gained the attention of researchers in academia and industry for a number of applications. They include disaster and earthquake prediction, water quality and environment monitoring, leakage and mine detection, military surveillance and underwater navigation. However, the aquatic medium is associated with a number of limitations and challenges: long multipath delay, high interference and noise, harsh environment, low bandwidth and limited battery life of the sensor nodes. These challenges demand research techniques and strategies to be overcome in an efficient and effective fashion. The design of routing protocols for UWSNs is one of the promising solutions to cope with these challenges. This paper presents a survey of the routing protocols for UWSNs. For the ease of description, the addressed routing protocols are classified into two groups: localization-based and localization-free protocols. These groups are further subdivided according to the problems they address or the major parameters they consider during routing. Unlike the existing surveys, this survey considers only the latest and state-of-the-art routing protocols. In addition, every protocol is described in terms of its routing strategy and the problem it addresses and solves. The merit(s) of each protocol is (are) highlighted along with the cost. A description of the protocols in this fashion has a number of advantages for researchers, as compared to the existing surveys. Firstly, the description of the routing strategy of each protocol makes its routing operation easily understandable. Secondly, the demerit(s) of a protocol provides (provide) insight into overcoming its flaw(s) in future investigation. This, in turn, leads to the foundation of new protocols that are more intelligent, robust and efficient with respect to the desired parameters. Thirdly, a protocol can be selected for the appropriate application based on its described merit(s). Finally, open challenges and research directions are presented for future investigation. PMID:29783686

A proposed protocol for acceptance and constancy control of computed tomography systems: a Nordic Association for Clinical Physics (NACP) work group report.

PubMed

Kuttner, Samuel; Bujila, Robert; Kortesniemi, Mika; Andersson, Henrik; Kull, Love; Østerås, Bjørn Helge; Thygesen, Jesper; Tarp, Ivanka Sojat

2013-03-01

Quality assurance (QA) of computed tomography (CT) systems is one of the routine tasks for medical physicists in the Nordic countries. However, standardized QA protocols do not yet exist and the QA methods, as well as the applied tolerance levels, vary in scope and extent at different hospitals. To propose a standardized protocol for acceptance and constancy testing of CT scanners in the Nordic Region. Following a Nordic Association for Clinical Physics (NACP) initiative, a group of medical physicists, with representatives from four Nordic countries, was formed. Based on international literature and practical experience within the group, a comprehensive standardized test protocol was developed. The proposed protocol includes tests related to the mechanical functionality, X-ray tube, detector, and image quality for CT scanners. For each test, recommendations regarding the purpose, equipment needed, an outline of the test method, the measured parameter, tolerance levels, and the testing frequency are stated. In addition, a number of optional tests are briefly discussed that may provide further information about the CT system. Based on international references and medical physicists' practical experiences, a comprehensive QA protocol for CT systems is proposed, including both acceptance and constancy tests. The protocol may serve as a reference for medical physicists in the Nordic countries.

Secure quantum private information retrieval using phase-encoded queries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olejnik, Lukasz

2011-08-01

We propose a quantum solution to the classical private information retrieval (PIR) problem, which allows one to query a database in a private manner. The protocol offers privacy thresholds and allows the user to obtain information from a database in a way that offers the potential adversary, in this model the database owner, no possibility of deterministically establishing the query contents. This protocol may also be viewed as a solution to the symmetrically private information retrieval problem in that it can offer database security (inability for a querying user to steal its contents). Compared to classical solutions, the protocol offers substantial improvement in terms of communication complexity. In comparison with the recent quantum private queries [Phys. Rev. Lett.PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.100.230502 100, 230502 (2008)] protocol, it is more efficient in terms of communication complexity and the number of rounds, while offering a clear privacy parameter. We discuss the security of the protocol and analyze its strengths and conclude that using this technique makes it challenging to obtain the unconditional (in the information-theoretic sense) privacy degree; nevertheless, in addition to being simple, the protocol still offers a privacy level. The oracle used in the protocol is inspired both by the classical computational PIR solutions as well as the Deutsch-Jozsa oracle.

Secure quantum private information retrieval using phase-encoded queries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Olejnik, Lukasz

We propose a quantum solution to the classical private information retrieval (PIR) problem, which allows one to query a database in a private manner. The protocol offers privacy thresholds and allows the user to obtain information from a database in a way that offers the potential adversary, in this model the database owner, no possibility of deterministically establishing the query contents. This protocol may also be viewed as a solution to the symmetrically private information retrieval problem in that it can offer database security (inability for a querying user to steal its contents). Compared to classical solutions, the protocol offersmore » substantial improvement in terms of communication complexity. In comparison with the recent quantum private queries [Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 230502 (2008)] protocol, it is more efficient in terms of communication complexity and the number of rounds, while offering a clear privacy parameter. We discuss the security of the protocol and analyze its strengths and conclude that using this technique makes it challenging to obtain the unconditional (in the information-theoretic sense) privacy degree; nevertheless, in addition to being simple, the protocol still offers a privacy level. The oracle used in the protocol is inspired both by the classical computational PIR solutions as well as the Deutsch-Jozsa oracle.« less

Neurofeedback training improves attention and working memory performance.

PubMed

Wang, Jinn-Rong; Hsieh, Shulan

2013-12-01

The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the frontal-midline theta (fmθ) activity uptraining protocol on attention and working memory performance of older and younger participants. Thirty-two participants were recruited. Participants within each age group were randomly assigned to either the neurofeedback training (fmθ uptraining) group or the sham-neurofeedback training group. There was a significant improvement in orienting scores in the older neurofeedback training group. In addition, there was a significant improvement in conflict scores in both the older and young neurofeedback training groups. However, alerting scores failed to increase. In addition, the fmθ training was found to improve working memory function in the older participants. The results further showed that fmθ training can modulate resting EEG for both neurofeedback groups. Our study demonstrated that fmθ uptraining improved attention and working memory performance and theta activity in the resting state for normal aging adults. In addition, younger participants also benefited from the present protocol in terms of improving their executive function. The current findings contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying neurofeedback training in cognitive function, and suggest that the fmθ uptraining protocol is an effective intervention program for cognitive aging. Copyright © 2013 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Formulating Precursors for Coating Metals and Ceramics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morales, Wilfredo; Gatica, Jorge E.; Reye, John T.

2005-01-01

A protocol has been devised for formulating low-vapor-pressure precursors for protective and conversion coatings on metallic and ceramic substrates. The ingredients of a precursor to which the protocol applies include additives with phosphate esters, or aryl phosphate esters in solution. Additives can include iron, chromium, and/or other transition metals. Alternative or additional additives can include magnesium compounds to facilitate growth of films on substrates that do not contain magnesium. Formulation of a precursor begins with mixing of the ingredients into a high-vapor-pressure solvent to form a homogeneous solution. Then the solvent is extracted from the solution by evaporation - aided, if necessary, by vacuum and/or slight heating. The solvent is deemed to be completely extracted when the viscosity of the remaining solution closely resembles the viscosity of the phosphate ester or aryl phosphate ester. In addition, satisfactory removal of the solvent can be verified by means of a differential scanning calorimetry essay: the absence of endothermic processes for temperatures below 150 C would indicate that the residual solvent has been eliminated from the solution beyond a detectable dilution level.

Assessing the effectiveness of the NICHD investigative interview protocol when interviewing French-speaking alleged victims of child sexual abuse in Quebec.

PubMed

Cyr, Mireille; Lamb, Michael E

2009-05-01

The study was designed to assess the effectiveness of the flexibly structured NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol for child sexual abuse (CSA) investigative interviews by police officers and mental health workers in Quebec. The NICHD Protocol was designed to operationalize "best practice" guidelines and to help forensic interviewers use open-ended prompts to facilitate free recall by alleged victims. A total of 83 interviews with 3- to 13-year-old alleged victims were matched with 83 interviews conducted by the same interviewers before they were trained to use the Protocol. Interviews were matched with respect to the children's ages, children-perpetrator relationships, and the types and frequency of abuse. Coders categorized each of the prompts used to elicit information about the abuse and tabulated the numbers of new forensically relevant details provided in each response. Interviewers used three times as many open-ended prompts in Protocol interviews than in non-Protocol interviews, whereas use of all other types of questions was halved, and the total number of questions asked decreased by 25%. Protocol-guided interviews yielded more details than comparison interviews. The mean number of details per prompt increased from 3 to 5 details when the Protocol was used. Even with young children, interviewers using the Protocol employed more invitations to elicit forensically relevant details. French-speaking investigators using the NICHD Protocol used open-ended prompts rather than focused questions when interviewing alleged victims. In addition, these interviewers needed fewer questions to get relevant information when using the Protocol. A French version of the NICHD Protocol is now available to police officers and social workers who investigate the alleged sexual abuse of young children in French-speaking countries. This French version allowed trained interviewers to increase the use of invitations and reduce the use of more focused and risky questions. When the number of questions was controlled, more central details and more details in total were obtained in Protocol interviews, because the average prompt elicited more detailed answers in Protocol interviews. However, learning to use the NICHD Protocol required extended training and continued feedback sessions to maintain the high quality of interviewing.

Probing Androgen Receptor Signaling in Circulating Tumor Cells in Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-07-01

validation of the CTC AR activity assay in additional patients, and on transcriptional profiling analysis of single CTCs to provide insights into the...protocol. A clinical research protocol for the collection of blood from patients with solid tumors for CTC analysis (DF/HCC 05-300) was initially...on 30 May 2014. Task 2. (Aim 1) Recruitment of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer for CTC AR activity analysis . Thus far, 17

Is it economical to manage jointly for wood and carbon under the Climate Action Reserve Protocol? In: Standiford, Richard B.; Weller, Theodore J.; Piirto, Douglas D.; Stuart, John D., tech

Treesearch

Richard P. Thompson; Steve R. Auten

2012-01-01

To quantify the benefits and costs of modifying forest management for additional climate benefits, Cal Poly's Swanton Pacific demonstration forest was used to test the Climate Action Reserve's protocol and identify management strategies for both wood and carbon markets. Residing in the Southern Sub-district with its clearcutting restrictions, Swanton offers...

A Pilot Study of Common Bile Duct Reconstruction with CorMatrix Extracellular Matrix in Swine (Sus scrofa)

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-02-06

additional pages if necessary.) PROTOCOL#: FDG20140008A DATE: 6 February 2015 PROTOCOL TITLE: A Pilot Study of Common Bile Duct Reconstruction with...obstruction or bile peritonitis. This was reported to the IACUC chair. 9. REDUCTION, REFINEMENT, OR REPLACEMENT OF ANIMAL USE; REPLACEMENT...benefit the DoD/USAF? We developed a porcine model of common bile duct injury and interposition grafting, gained experience managing these patients

IEEE-1588(Trademark) Standard for a Precision Clock Synchronization Protocol for Networked Measurement and Control Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-12-01

34th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Meeting 243 IEEE-1588™ STANDARD FOR A PRECISION CLOCK SYNCHRONIZATION PROTOCOL FOR... synchronization . 2. Cyclic-systems. In cyclic-systems, timing is periodic and is usually defined by the characteristics of a cyclic network or bus...incommensurate, timing schedules for each device are easily implemented. In addition, synchronization accuracy depends on the accuracy of the common

Domain Name Server Security (DNSSEC) Protocol Deployment

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

all the time. For mobile devices, end-system validation is much more difficult due to the state of their networks, many of which do not allow...way to distribute keying information than the current public-key infrastructure (PKI) allows. In addition, it will take work to convince CDNs and...Control Protocol (TCP) or even DNS over Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). One of the important outcomes of our work is the realization that that a " mobile

Enhanced stability of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in biological media using a pH adjusted-BSA adsorption protocol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Si-Ming; Laromaine, Anna; Roig, Anna

2014-07-01

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are widely used for biological applications due to their unique properties compared to their bulk counterparts, simplified SPIONs stabilization protocols applicable for a wide spectra of biological media remains a challenging issue. In this work, SPIONs with different surface coatings, tetramethylammonium hydroxide-coated SPIONs (T-SPIONs), and citrate-coated SPIONs (C-SPIONs) were synthesized by a facile, rapid and cost effective microwave-assisted method. C-SPIONs show robust stability in biological media of phosphate buffered saline and Roswell Park Memorial Institute Medium, while destabilize in DMEM. T-SPIONs were found to aggregate rapidly and significantly in all tested media. Then, a modified pH adjusted-BSA adsorption protocol and an addition of excess trisodium citrate dihydrate (Na3Cit) were used to enhance their stability in the media. The BSA adsorption protocol showed great efficiency in stabilizing the dispersed state of both SPIONs in the tested media, while the addition of excess Na3Cit showed limited effect, and it was only applicable for C-SPIONs. The formed BSA layer on SPIONs could be imaged by negative staining TEM, and revealed by Cryo-TEM, FTIR, DLS, and the zeta potential measurements. Results indicated that BSA forms a monolayer of a thickness of about 3 ± 1 nm and BSA interacts with C-SPIONs and T-SPIONs through their coating, rather than by replacing them. This synthetic method and stabilization protocol offer a general methodology to obtain SPIONs with a variety of surfactants, stable in different biological media in few minutes.

CREATION OF THE MODEL ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Houck, F.; Rosenthal, M.; Wulf, N.

In 1991, the international nuclear nonproliferation community was dismayed to discover that the implementation of safeguards by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) under its NPT INFCIRC/153 safeguards agreement with Iraq had failed to detect Iraq's nuclear weapon program. It was now clear that ensuring that states were fulfilling their obligations under the NPT would require not just detecting diversion but also the ability to detect undeclared materials and activities. To achieve this, the IAEA initiated what would turn out to be a five-year effort to reappraise the NPT safeguards system. The effort engaged the IAEA and its Member Statesmore » and led to agreement in 1997 on a new safeguards agreement, the Model Protocol Additional to the Agreement(s) between States and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards. The Model Protocol makes explicit that one IAEA goal is to provide assurance of the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities. The Model Protocol requires an expanded declaration that identifies a State's nuclear potential, empowers the IAEA to raise questions about the correctness and completeness of the State's declaration, and, if needed, allows IAEA access to locations. The information required and the locations available for access are much broader than those provided for under INFCIRC/153. The negotiation was completed in quite a short time because it started with a relatively complete draft of an agreement prepared by the IAEA Secretariat. This paper describes how the Model Protocol was constructed and reviews key decisions that were made both during the five-year period and in the actual negotiation.« less

A standard protocol for describing individual-based and agent-based models

USGS Publications Warehouse

Grimm, Volker; Berger, Uta; Bastiansen, Finn; Eliassen, Sigrunn; Ginot, Vincent; Giske, Jarl; Goss-Custard, John; Grand, Tamara; Heinz, Simone K.; Huse, Geir; Huth, Andreas; Jepsen, Jane U.; Jorgensen, Christian; Mooij, Wolf M.; Muller, Birgit; Pe'er, Guy; Piou, Cyril; Railsback, Steven F.; Robbins, Andrew M.; Robbins, Martha M.; Rossmanith, Eva; Ruger, Nadja; Strand, Espen; Souissi, Sami; Stillman, Richard A.; Vabo, Rune; Visser, Ute; DeAngelis, Donald L.

2006-01-01

Simulation models that describe autonomous individual organisms (individual based models, IBM) or agents (agent-based models, ABM) have become a widely used tool, not only in ecology, but also in many other disciplines dealing with complex systems made up of autonomous entities. However, there is no standard protocol for describing such simulation models, which can make them difficult to understand and to duplicate. This paper presents a proposed standard protocol, ODD, for describing IBMs and ABMs, developed and tested by 28 modellers who cover a wide range of fields within ecology. This protocol consists of three blocks (Overview, Design concepts, and Details), which are subdivided into seven elements: Purpose, State variables and scales, Process overview and scheduling, Design concepts, Initialization, Input, and Submodels. We explain which aspects of a model should be described in each element, and we present an example to illustrate the protocol in use. In addition, 19 examples are available in an Online Appendix. We consider ODD as a first step for establishing a more detailed common format of the description of IBMs and ABMs. Once initiated, the protocol will hopefully evolve as it becomes used by a sufficiently large proportion of modellers.

Proof-of-principle experimental realization of a qubit-like qudit-based quantum key distribution scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shuang; Yin, Zhen-Qiang; Chau, H. F.; Chen, Wei; Wang, Chao; Guo, Guang-Can; Han, Zheng-Fu

2018-04-01

In comparison to qubit-based protocols, qudit-based quantum key distribution ones generally allow two cooperative parties to share unconditionally secure keys under a higher channel noise. However, it is very hard to prepare and measure the required quantum states in qudit-based protocols in general. One exception is the recently proposed highly error tolerant qudit-based protocol known as the Chau15 (Chau 2015 Phys. Rev. A 92 062324). Remarkably, the state preparation and measurement in this protocol can be done relatively easily since the required states are phase encoded almost like the diagonal basis states of a qubit. Here we report the first proof-of-principle demonstration of the Chau15 protocol. One highlight of our experiment is that its post-processing is based on practical one-way manner, while the original proposal in Chau (2015 Phys. Rev. A 92 062324) relies on complicated two-way post-processing, which is a great challenge in experiment. In addition, by manipulating time-bin qudit and measurement with a variable delay interferometer, our realization is extensible to qudit with high-dimensionality and confirms the experimental feasibility of the Chau15 protocol.

U.S. Perspectives on the Joint Convention

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Strosnider, J.; Federline, M.; Camper, L.

The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (Joint Convention) is an international convention, under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It is a companion to a suite of international conventions on nuclear safety and physical security, which serve to promote a global culture for the safe use of radioactive materials. Although the U.S. was the first nation to sign the Joint Convention on September 29, 1997, the ratification process was a challenging experience for the U.S., in the face of legislative priorities dominated by concerns formore » national security and threats from terrorism after September 11, 2001. Notwithstanding these prevailing circumstances, the U.S. ratified the Joint Convention in 2003, just prior to the First Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties, and participated fully therein. For the United States, participation as a Contracting Party provides many benefits. These range from working with other Parties to harmonize international approaches to achieve strong and effective nuclear safety programs on a global scale, to stimulating initiatives to improve safety systems within our own domestic programs, to learning about technical innovations by other Parties that can be useful to U.S. licensees, utilities, and industry in managing safety and its associated costs in our waste management activities. The Joint Convention process also provides opportunities to identify future areas of bilateral and multilateral technical and regulatory cooperation with other Parties, as well as an opportunity for U.S. vendors and suppliers to broaden their market to include foreign clients for safety improvement equipment and services. The Joint Convention is consistent with U.S. foreign policy considerations to support, as a priority, the strengthening of the worldwide safety culture in the use of nuclear energy. Because of its many benefits, we believe it is important to take a leadership role in promoting its ratification in the global setting, as well as in more focused regions. At the First Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties, delegations agreed it was highly desirable to have more member states become Contracting Parties. To that end, the United States proposed initiating a Regional Conference Initiative outreach. To launch the Initiative, the U.S. provided Extra-Budgetary contributions to fund conferences, in Africa, the Americans and Southeast Asia. We also provided an expert for each of the conferences to assist in advancing the message to non-member States, in particular developing nations. (authors)« less

77 FR 12002 - Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Site-Specific Invasive Plant Treatment Project and Forest...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-28

... these tools, including additional herbicides and application methods to increase treatment effectiveness... organisms than previously approved herbicides and higher effectiveness on particular invasive plants. Thus... examples demonstrate why additional herbicides, methods, and protocols are needed to improve treatment...

Neuroimaging paradigms for tonotopic mapping (II): the influence of acquisition protocol.

PubMed

Langers, Dave R M; Sanchez-Panchuelo, Rosa M; Francis, Susan T; Krumbholz, Katrin; Hall, Deborah A

2014-10-15

Numerous studies on the tonotopic organisation of auditory cortex in humans have employed a wide range of neuroimaging protocols to assess cortical frequency tuning. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we made a systematic comparison between acquisition protocols with variable levels of interference from acoustic scanner noise. Using sweep stimuli to evoke travelling waves of activation, we measured sound-evoked response signals using sparse, clustered, and continuous imaging protocols that were characterised by inter-scan intervals of 8.8, 2.2, or 0.0 s, respectively. With regard to sensitivity to sound-evoked activation, the sparse and clustered protocols performed similarly, and both detected more activation than the continuous method. Qualitatively, tonotopic maps in activated areas proved highly similar, in the sense that the overall pattern of tonotopic gradients was reproducible across all three protocols. However, quantitatively, we observed substantial reductions in response amplitudes to moderately low stimulus frequencies that coincided with regions of strong energy in the scanner noise spectrum for the clustered and continuous protocols compared to the sparse protocol. At the same time, extreme frequencies became over-represented for these two protocols, and high best frequencies became relatively more abundant. Our results indicate that although all three scanning protocols are suitable to determine the layout of tonotopic fields, an exact quantitative assessment of the representation of various sound frequencies is substantially confounded by the presence of scanner noise. In addition, we noticed anomalous signal dynamics in response to our travelling wave paradigm that suggest that the assessment of frequency-dependent tuning is non-trivially influenced by time-dependent (hemo)dynamics when using sweep stimuli. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Two-party secret key distribution via a modified quantum secret sharing protocol.

PubMed

Grice, W P; Evans, P G; Lawrie, B; Legré, M; Lougovski, P; Ray, W; Williams, B P; Qi, B; Smith, A M

2015-03-23

We present and demonstrate a novel protocol for distributing secret keys between two and only two parties based on N-party single-qubit Quantum Secret Sharing (QSS). We demonstrate our new protocol with N = 3 parties using phase-encoded photons. We show that any two out of N parties can build a secret key based on partial information from each other and with collaboration from the remaining N - 2 parties. Our implementation allows for an accessible transition between N-party QSS and arbitrary two party QKD without modification of hardware. In addition, our approach significantly reduces the number of resources such as single photon detectors, lasers and dark fiber connections needed to implement QKD.

Carbon Nanotube Material Quality Assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yowell, Leonard; Arepalli, Sivaram; Sosa, Edward; Niolaev, Pavel; Gorelik, Olga

2006-01-01

The nanomaterial activities at NASA Johnson Space Center focus on carbon nanotube production, characterization and their applications for aerospace systems. Single wall carbon nanotubes are produced by arc and laser methods. Characterization of the nanotube material is performed using the NASA JSC protocol developed by combining analytical techniques of SEM, TEM, UV-VIS-NIR absorption, Raman, and TGA. A possible addition of other techniques such as XPS, and ICP to the existing protocol will be discussed. Changes in the quality of the material collected in different regions of the arc and laser production chambers is assessed using the original JSC protocol. The observed variations indicate different growth conditions in different regions of the production chambers.

Somatic Embryogenesis in Two Orchid Genera (Cymbidium, Dendrobium).

PubMed

da Silva, Jaime A Teixeira; Winarto, Budi

2016-01-01

The protocorm-like body (PLB) is the de facto somatic embryo in orchids. Here we describe detailed protocols for two orchid genera (hybrid Cymbidium Twilight Moon 'Day Light' and Dendrobium 'Jayakarta', D. 'Gradita 31', and D. 'Zahra FR 62') for generating PLBs. These protocols will most likely have to be tweaked for different cultivars as the response of orchids in vitro tends to be dependent on genotype. In addition to primary somatic embryogenesis, secondary (or repetitive) somatic embryogenesis is also described for both genera. The use of thin cell layers as a sensitive tissue assay is outlined for hybrid Cymbidium while the protocol outlined is suitable for bioreactor culture of D. 'Zahra FR 62'.

A Unified Approach to Intra-Domain Security

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shue, Craig A; Kalafut, Andrew J.; Gupta, Prof. Minaxi

2009-01-01

While a variety of mechanisms have been developed for securing individual intra-domain protocols, none address the issue in a holistic manner. We develop a unified framework to secure prominent networking protocols within a single domain. We begin with a secure version of the DHCP protocol, which has the additional feature of providing each host with a certificate. We then leverage these certificates to secure ARP, prevent spoofing within the domain, and secure SSH and VPN connections between the domain and hosts which have previously interacted with it locally. In doing so, we also develop an incrementally deployable public key infrastructuremore » which can later be leveraged to support inter-domain authentication.« less

Some Protocols For Optical-Fiber Digital Communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yeh, Cavour; Gerla, Mario

1989-01-01

One works best in heavy traffic, another, in light traffic. Three protocols proposed for digital communications among stations connected by passive taps to pair of uni-directional optical-fiber buses. Mediate round-robin, bounded-delay access to buses by all stations and particularly suited to fast transmission. Partly because transmission medium passive (no relay stations) and partly because protocols distribute control of network among all stations with provision for addition and deletion of stations (no control stations), communication network able to resist and recover from failures. Implicit token propagates in one direction on one bus and in opposite direction on other bus, minimizing interval of silence between end of one round and beginning of next.

High-intensity interval training evokes larger serum BDNF levels compared with intense continuous exercise.

PubMed

Saucedo Marquez, Cinthia Maria; Vanaudenaerde, Bart; Troosters, Thierry; Wenderoth, Nicole

2015-12-15

Exercise can have a positive effect on the brain by activating brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)-related processes. In healthy humans there appears to be a linear relationship between exercise intensity and the positive short-term effect of acute exercise on BDNF levels (i.e., the highest BDNF levels are reported after high-intensity exercise protocols). Here we performed two experiments to test the effectiveness of two high-intensity exercise protocols, both known to improve cardiovascular health, to determine whether they have a similar efficacy in affecting BDNF levels. Participants performed a continuous exercise (CON) protocol at 70% of maximal work rate and a high-intensity interval-training (HIT) protocol at 90% of maximal work rate for periods of 1 min alternating with 1 min of rest (both protocols lasted 20 min). We observed similar BDNF kinetics in both protocols, with maximal BDNF concentrations being reached toward the end of training (experiment 1). We then showed that both exercise protocols significantly increase BDNF levels compared with a rest condition (CON P = 0.04; HIT P < 0.001), with HIT reaching higher BDNF levels than CON (P = 0.035) (experiment 2). These results suggest that shorter bouts of high intensity exercise are slightly more effective than continuous high-intensity exercise for elevating serum BDNF. Additionally, 73% of the participants preferred the HIT protocol (P = 0.02). Therefore, we suggest that the HIT protocol might represent an effective and preferred intervention for elevating BDNF levels and potentially promoting brain health. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Motion Imagery and Robotics Application (MIRA)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martinez, Lindolfo; Rich, Thomas

2011-01-01

Objectives include: I. Prototype a camera service leveraging the CCSDS Integrated protocol stack (MIRA/SM&C/AMS/DTN): a) CCSDS MIRA Service (New). b) Spacecraft Monitor and Control (SM&C). c) Asynchronous Messaging Service (AMS). d) Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN). II. Additional MIRA Objectives: a) Demo of Camera Control through ISS using CCSDS protocol stack (Berlin, May 2011). b) Verify that the CCSDS standards stack can provide end-to-end space camera services across ground and space environments. c) Test interoperability of various CCSDS protocol standards. d) Identify overlaps in the design and implementations of the CCSDS protocol standards. e) Identify software incompatibilities in the CCSDS stack interfaces. f) Provide redlines to the SM&C, AMS, and DTN working groups. d) Enable the CCSDS MIRA service for potential use in ISS Kibo camera commanding. e) Assist in long-term evolution of this entire group of CCSDS standards to TRL 6 or greater.

Quantum enigma cipher as a generalization of the quantum stream cipher

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kato, Kentaro

2016-09-01

Various types of randomizations for the quantum stream cipher by Y00 protocol have been developed so far. In particular, it must be noted that the analysis of immunity against correlation attacks with a new type of randomization by Hirota and Kurosawa prompted a new look at the quantum stream cipher by Y00 protocol (Quant. Inform. Process. 6(2) 2007). From the preceding study on the quantum stream cipher, we recognized that the quantum stream cipher by Y00 protocol would be able to be generalized to a new type of physical cipher that has potential to exceed the Shannon limit by installing additional randomization mechanisms, in accordance with the law of quantum mechanics. We call this new type of physical random cipher the quantum enigma cipher. In this article, we introduce the recent developments for the quantum stream cipher by Y00 protocol and future plans toward the quantum enigma cipher.

Alloreactive Regulatory T Cells Allow the Generation of Mixed Chimerism and Transplant Tolerance.

PubMed

Ruiz, Paulina; Maldonado, Paula; Hidalgo, Yessia; Sauma, Daniela; Rosemblatt, Mario; Bono, Maria Rosa

2015-01-01

The induction of donor-specific transplant tolerance is one of the main goals of modern immunology. Establishment of a mixed chimerism state in the transplant recipient has proven to be a suitable strategy for the induction of long-term allograft tolerance; however, current experimental recipient preconditioning protocols have many side effects, and are not feasible for use in future therapies. In order to improve the current mixed chimerism induction protocols, we developed a non-myeloablative bone-marrow transplant (NM-BMT) protocol using retinoic acid (RA)-induced alloantigen-specific Tregs, clinically available immunosuppressive drugs, and lower doses of irradiation. We demonstrate that RA-induced alloantigen-specific Tregs in addition to a NM-BMT protocol generates stable mixed chimerism and induces tolerance to allogeneic secondary skin allografts in mice. Therefore, the establishment of mixed chimerism through the use of donor-specific Tregs rather than non-specific immunosuppression could have a potential use in organ transplantation.

On the designing of a tamper resistant prescription RFID access control system.

PubMed

Safkhani, Masoumeh; Bagheri, Nasour; Naderi, Majid

2012-12-01

Recently, Chen et al. have proposed a novel tamper resistant prescription RFID access control system, published in the Journal of Medical Systems. In this paper we consider the security of the proposed protocol and identify some existing weaknesses. The main attack is a reader impersonation attack which allows an active adversary to impersonate a legitimate doctor, e.g. the patient's doctor, to access the patient's tag and change the patient prescription. The presented attack is quite efficient. To impersonate a doctor, the adversary should eavesdrop one session between the doctor and the patient's tag and then she can impersonate the doctor with the success probability of '1'. In addition, we present efficient reader-tag to back-end database impersonation, de-synchronization and traceability attacks against the protocol. Finally, we propose an improved version of protocol which is more efficient compared to the original protocol while provides the desired security against the presented attacks.

An efficient and reliable geographic routing protocol based on partial network coding for underwater sensor networks.

PubMed

Hao, Kun; Jin, Zhigang; Shen, Haifeng; Wang, Ying

2015-05-28

Efficient routing protocols for data packet delivery are crucial to underwater sensor networks (UWSNs). However, communication in UWSNs is a challenging task because of the characteristics of the acoustic channel. Network coding is a promising technique for efficient data packet delivery thanks to the broadcast nature of acoustic channels and the relatively high computation capabilities of the sensor nodes. In this work, we present GPNC, a novel geographic routing protocol for UWSNs that incorporates partial network coding to encode data packets and uses sensor nodes' location information to greedily forward data packets to sink nodes. GPNC can effectively reduce network delays and retransmissions of redundant packets causing additional network energy consumption. Simulation results show that GPNC can significantly improve network throughput and packet delivery ratio, while reducing energy consumption and network latency when compared with other routing protocols.

Assessing Sociability, Social Memory, and Pup Retrieval in Mice.

PubMed

Zimprich, Annemarie; Niessing, Jörn; Cohen, Lior; Garrett, Lillian; Einicke, Jan; Sperling, Bettina; Schmidt, Mathias V; Hölter, Sabine M

2017-12-20

Adaptive social behavior is important in mammals, both for the well-being of the individual and for the thriving of the species. Dysfunctions in social behavior occur in many neurodevelopmental and psychiatric diseases, and research into the genetic components of disease-relevant social deficits can open up new avenues for understanding the underlying biological mechanisms and therapeutic interventions. Genetically modified mouse models are particularly useful in this respect, and robust experimental protocols are needed to reliably assess relevant social behavior phenotypes. Here we describe in detail three protocols to quantitatively measure sociability, one of the most frequently investigated social behavior phenotypes in mice, using a three-chamber sociability test. These protocols can be extended to also assess social memory. In addition, we provide a detailed protocol on pup retrieval, which is a particularly robust maternal behavior amenable to various scientific questions. © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

A protocol for isolating insect mitochondrial genomes: a case study of NUMT in Melipona flavolineata (Hymenoptera: Apidae).

PubMed

Françoso, Elaine; Gomes, Fernando; Arias, Maria Cristina

2016-07-01

Nuclear mitochondrial DNA insertions (NUMTs) are mitochondrial DNA sequences that have been transferred into the nucleus and are recognized by the presence of indels and stop codons. Although NUMTs have been identified in a diverse range of species, their discovery was frequently accidental. Here, our initial goal was to develop and standardize a simple method for isolating NUMTs from the nuclear genome of a single bee. Subsequently, we tested our new protocol by determining whether the indels and stop codons of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequence of Melipona flavolineata are of nuclear origin. The new protocol successfully demonstrated the presence of a COI NUMT. In addition to NUMT investigations, the protocol described here will also be very useful for studying mitochondrial mutations related to diseases and for sequencing complete mitochondrial genomes with high read coverage by Next-Generation technology.

What parental characteristics can predict child maltreatment at the Emergency Department? Considering expansion of the Hague Protocol.

PubMed

Diderich, Hester M; Dechesne, Mark; Fekkes, Minne; Verkerk, Paul H; Buitendijk, Simone E; Oudesluys-Murphy, Anne-Marie

2015-08-01

The Hague Protocol considers three parental characteristics of Emergency Department adult patients to identify child abuse: (a) domestic violence, (b) intoxication, and (c) suicide attempt or auto mutilation. This study investigated whether additional parental characteristics could be included to improve the chance of detection. Using a nested case-control design, we compared parents identified as child abusers who were missed by the Protocol with a matched group of nonabusing parents. The parental characteristics used were, among others, all physical injuries possibly resulting from domestic violence, psychological, or mental complaints that might indicate elevated domestic stress levels and the number of Emergency Department visits during the previous year. None of the characteristics were statistically significantly associated with child abuse. The Hague Protocol will not be improved by adding one or more of the characteristics that were investigated.

Thiolation mediated pegylation platform to generate functional universal red blood cells.

PubMed

Nacharaju, Parimala; Manjula, Belur N; Acharya, Seetharama A

2007-01-01

The PEGylation that adds an extension arm on protein amino groups with the conservation of their positive charge masks the A and D antigens of erythrocytes efficiently. In the present study, the efficiency of masking the antigens of RBC by PEGylation protocols that do not conserve the charge with and without adding extension arms is compared. The conjugation of PEG-5000 to RBCs through the addition of extension arms masked the D antigen more efficiently than the other protocol. A combination of PEG-5 K and PEG-20 K is needed to mask the A antigen, irrespective of the PEGylation approach. The oxygen affinity of the PEGylated RBCs increased by the extension arm facilitated PEGylation. The protocol involving the conjugation of PEG-chains without adding extension arm did not alter the oxygen affinity of RBCs. A combination of PEGylation protocols is an alternate strategy to generate universal red blood cells with good levels of oxygen affinity.

Calibrated work function mapping by Kelvin probe force microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernández Garrillo, Pablo A.; Grévin, Benjamin; Chevalier, Nicolas; Borowik, Łukasz

2018-04-01

We propose and demonstrate the implementation of an alternative work function tip calibration procedure for Kelvin probe force microscopy under ultrahigh vacuum, using monocrystalline metallic materials with known crystallographic orientation as reference samples, instead of the often used highly oriented pyrolytic graphite calibration sample. The implementation of this protocol allows the acquisition of absolute and reproducible work function values, with an improved uncertainty with respect to unprepared highly oriented pyrolytic graphite-based protocols. The developed protocol allows the local investigation of absolute work function values over nanostructured samples and can be implemented in electronic structures and devices characterization as demonstrated over a nanostructured semiconductor sample presenting Al0.7Ga0.3As and GaAs layers with variable thickness. Additionally, using our protocol we find that the work function of annealed highly oriented pyrolytic graphite is equal to 4.6 ± 0.03 eV.

A test protocol for assessing the hearing status of students with special needs.

PubMed

Chen, Hsiao-Chuan; Wang, Nan-Mai; Chiu, Wen-Chen; Liu, Shu-Yu; Chang, Yi-Ping; Lin, Pei-Yu; Chung, King

2014-10-01

Individuals with disabilities are often reported to have a high prevalence of undetected hearing disorders/loss, but there is no standardized hearing test protocol for this population. The purposes of this study were (1) to examine the hearing status of students with special needs in Taiwan, and (2) to investigate the use of an on-site hearing test protocol that would adequately detect hearing problems in this population and reduce unnecessary referrals for off-site follow-up services. A total of 238 students enrolled in two schools for special education and one habilitation center participated in the study. Most students had intellectual disabilities and some also had additional syndromes or disorders. A hearing screening protocol including otoscopy, tympanometry, and distortion product otoacoustic emissions was administered to examine students' outer, middle, and inner ear functions, respectively. Pure tone tests were then administered as an on-site follow-up for those who failed or could not be tested using the screening protocol. Only 32.4% of students passed. When administered alone, the referral rate of otoscopy, tympanometry, and otoacoustic emissions were 38.7%, 46.0%, and 48.5%, respectively. The integration of these subtests revealed 52.1% of students needed follow-up services, 11.8% could not be tested, 2.5% had documented hearing loss, and 1.3% needed to be monitored because of negative middle ear pressure. The inclusion of pure tone audiometry increased the passing rate by 9.9% and provided information on hearing sensitivity for an additional 8.6% of students. Hearing assessments and regular hearing screening should be provided as an integral part of health care services for individuals with special needs because of high occurrences of excessive cerumen, middle ear dysfunction, and sensorineural hearing loss. The training of care-givers and teachers of students with special needs is encouraged so that they can help identify hearing problems and reduce the negative impact of hearing disorders and hearing loss. The screening protocol needs to include subtests that examine the status of different parts of their auditory system. The addition of pure tone audiometry as an on-site follow-up tool reduced the rate of off-site referrals and provided more information on hearing sensitivity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Redactions in protocols for drug trials: what industry sponsors concealed.

PubMed

Marquardsen, Mikkel; Ogden, Michelle; Gøtzsche, Peter C

2018-04-01

Objective To describe the redactions in contemporary protocols for industry-sponsored randomised drug trials with patient relevant outcomes and to evaluate whether there was a legitimate rationale for the redactions. Design Cohort study. Under the Freedom of Information Act, we requested access to trial protocols approved by a research ethics committee in Denmark from October 2012 to March 2013. We received 17 consecutive protocols, which had been redacted before we got them, and nine protocols without redactions. In five additional cases, the companies refused to let the committees give us access, and in three other cases, documents were missing. Participants Not applicable. Setting Not applicable. Main outcome measure Amount and nature of redactions in 22 predefined key protocol variables. Results The redactions were most widespread in those sections of the protocol where there is empirical evidence of substantial problems with the trustworthiness of published drug trials: data analysis, handling of missing data, detection and analysis of adverse events, definition of the outcomes, interim analyses and premature termination of the study, sponsor's access to incoming data while the study is running, ownership to the data and investigators' publication rights. The parts of the text that were redacted differed widely, both between companies and within the same company. Conclusions We could not identify any legitimate rationale for the redactions. The current mistrust in industry-sponsored drug trials can only change if the industry offers unconditional access to its trial protocols and other relevant documents and data.

Multicapillary Flow Reactor: Synthesis of 1,2,5-Thiadiazepane 1,1-Dioxide Library Utilizing One-Pot Elimination and Inter-/Intramolecular Double aza-Michael Addition Via Microwave-Assisted, Continuous-Flow Organic Synthesis (MACOS)

PubMed Central

Ullah, Farman; Zang, Qin; Javed, Salim; Zhou, Aihua; Knudtson, Christopher A.; Bi, Danse; Hanson, Paul R.; Organ, Michael G.

2013-01-01

A microwave-assisted, continuous-flow organic synthesis (MACOS) protocol for the synthesis of functionalized 1,2,5-thiadiazepane 1,1-dioxide library, utilizing a one-pot elimination and inter-/intramolecular double aza-Michael addition strategy is reported. The optimized protocol in MACOS was utilized for scale-out and further extended for library production using a multicapillary flow reactor. A 50-member library of 1,2,5-thiadiazepane 1,1-dioxides was prepared on a 100- to 300-mg scale with overall yields between 50 and 80% and over 90 % purity determined by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy. PMID:24244871

Provable classically intractable sampling with measurement-based computation in constant time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanders, Stephen; Miller, Jacob; Miyake, Akimasa

We present a constant-time measurement-based quantum computation (MQC) protocol to perform a classically intractable sampling problem. We sample from the output probability distribution of a subclass of the instantaneous quantum polynomial time circuits introduced by Bremner, Montanaro and Shepherd. In contrast with the usual circuit model, our MQC implementation includes additional randomness due to byproduct operators associated with the computation. Despite this additional randomness we show that our sampling task cannot be efficiently simulated by a classical computer. We extend previous results to verify the quantum supremacy of our sampling protocol efficiently using only single-qubit Pauli measurements. Center for Quantum Information and Control, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.

Catalyst-free and solvent-free Michael addition of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds to nitroalkenes by a grinding method

PubMed Central

Xie, Zong-Bo; Wu, Ming-Yu; He, Ting; Le, Zhang-Gao

2012-01-01

Summary An environmentally benign, fast and convenient protocol has been developed for the Michael addition of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds to β-nitroalkenes in good to excellent yields by a grinding method under catalyst- and solvent-free conditions. PMID:22563352

21 CFR 571.1 - Petitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... in the petition. (ii) A protocol for a test or study, unless it is shown to fall within the exemption..., safety and functionality data include all studies and tests of a food additive on animals and humans and all studies and tests on a food additive for identity, stability, purity, potency, performance, and...

21 CFR 171.1 - Petitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... in the petition. (ii) A protocol for a test or study, unless it is shown to fall within the exemption... regulation, safety and functionality data include all studies and tests of a food additive on animals and humans and all studies and tests on a food additive for identity, stability, purity, potency, performance...

21 CFR 171.1 - Petitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... in the petition. (ii) A protocol for a test or study, unless it is shown to fall within the exemption... regulation, safety and functionality data include all studies and tests of a food additive on animals and humans and all studies and tests on a food additive for identity, stability, purity, potency, performance...

21 CFR 571.1 - Petitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... in the petition. (ii) A protocol for a test or study, unless it is shown to fall within the exemption..., safety and functionality data include all studies and tests of a food additive on animals and humans and all studies and tests on a food additive for identity, stability, purity, potency, performance, and...

21 CFR 571.1 - Petitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... in the petition. (ii) A protocol for a test or study, unless it is shown to fall within the exemption..., safety and functionality data include all studies and tests of a food additive on animals and humans and all studies and tests on a food additive for identity, stability, purity, potency, performance, and...

21 CFR 171.1 - Petitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... in the petition. (ii) A protocol for a test or study, unless it is shown to fall within the exemption... regulation, safety and functionality data include all studies and tests of a food additive on animals and humans and all studies and tests on a food additive for identity, stability, purity, potency, performance...

21 CFR 171.1 - Petitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... in the petition. (ii) A protocol for a test or study, unless it is shown to fall within the exemption... regulation, safety and functionality data include all studies and tests of a food additive on animals and humans and all studies and tests on a food additive for identity, stability, purity, potency, performance...

21 CFR 571.1 - Petitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... in the petition. (ii) A protocol for a test or study, unless it is shown to fall within the exemption..., safety and functionality data include all studies and tests of a food additive on animals and humans and all studies and tests on a food additive for identity, stability, purity, potency, performance, and...

21 CFR 571.1 - Petitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... in the petition. (ii) A protocol for a test or study, unless it is shown to fall within the exemption..., safety and functionality data include all studies and tests of a food additive on animals and humans and all studies and tests on a food additive for identity, stability, purity, potency, performance, and...

21 CFR 171.1 - Petitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... in the petition. (ii) A protocol for a test or study, unless it is shown to fall within the exemption... regulation, safety and functionality data include all studies and tests of a food additive on animals and humans and all studies and tests on a food additive for identity, stability, purity, potency, performance...

α-Conotoxin Decontamination Protocol Evaluation: What Works and What Doesn’t

PubMed Central

Turner, Matthew W.; Cort, John R.; McDougal, Owen M.

2017-01-01

Nine publically available biosafety protocols for safely handling conotoxin peptides were tested to evaluate their decontamination efficacy. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS) were used to assess the effect of each chemical treatment on the secondary and primary structure of α-CTx MII (L10V, E11A). Of the nine decontamination methods tested, treatment with 1% (m/v) solution of the enzymatic detergent Contrex™ EZ resulted in a 76.8% decrease in α-helical content as assessed by the mean residue ellipticity at 222 nm, and partial peptide digestion was demonstrated using high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). Additionally, treatment with 6% sodium hypochlorite (m/v) resulted in 80.5% decrease in α-helical content and complete digestion of the peptide. The Contrex™ EZ treatment was repeated with three additional α-conotoxins (α-CTxs), α-CTxs LvIA, ImI and PeIA, which verified the decontamination method was reasonably robust. These results support the use of either 1% Contrex™ EZ solution or 6% sodium hypochlorite in biosafety protocols for the decontamination of α-CTxs in research laboratories. PMID:28906461

Synthesis of cis-C-Iodo-N-Tosyl-Aziridines using Diiodomethyllithium: Reaction Optimization, Product Scope and Stability, and a Protocol for Selection of Stationary Phase for Chromatography

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

The preparation of C-iodo-N-Ts-aziridines with excellent cis-diastereoselectivity has been achieved in high yields by the addition of diiodomethyllithium to N-tosylimines and N-tosylimine–HSO2Tol adducts. This addition-cyclization protocol successfully provided a wide range of cis-iodoaziridines, including the first examples of alkyl-substituted iodoaziridines, with the reaction tolerating both aryl imines and alkyl imines. An ortho-chlorophenyl imine afforded a β-amino gem-diiodide under the optimized reaction conditions due to a postulated coordinated intermediate preventing cyclization. An effective protocol to assess the stability of the sensitive iodoaziridine functional group to chromatography was also developed. As a result of the judicious choice of stationary phase, the iodoaziridines could be purified by column chromatography; the use of deactivated basic alumina (activity IV) afforded high yield and purity. Rearrangements of electron-rich aryl-iodoaziridines have been promoted, selectively affording either novel α-iodo-N-Ts-imines or α-iodo-aldehydes in high yield. PMID:23738857

Copper- and copper–N-heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed C─H activating carboxylation of terminal alkynes with CO2 at ambient conditions

PubMed Central

Yu, Dingyi; Zhang, Yugen

2010-01-01

The use of carbon dioxide as a renewable and environmentally friendly source of carbon in organic synthesis is a highly attractive approach, but its real world applications remain a great challenge. The major obstacles for commercialization of most current protocols are their low catalytic performances, harsh reaction conditions, and limited substrate scope. It is important to develop new reactions and new protocols for CO2 transformations at mild conditions and in cost-efficient ways. Herein, a copper-catalyzed and copper–N-heterocyclic carbene-cocatalyzed transformation of CO2 to carboxylic acids via C─H bond activation of terminal alkynes with or without base additives is reported. Various propiolic acids were synthesized in good to excellent yields under ambient conditions without consumption of any organometallic or organic reagent additives. This system has a wide scope of substrates and functional group tolerances and provides a powerful tool for the synthesis of highly functionalized propiolic acids. This catalytic system is a simple and economically viable protocol with great potential in practical applications. PMID:21059950

Spontaneous Swallow Frequency Compared with Clinical Screening in the Identification of Dysphagia in Acute Stroke

PubMed Central

Crary, Michael A.; Carnaby, Giselle D.; Sia, Isaac

2017-01-01

Background The aim of this study was to compare spontaneous swallow frequency analysis (SFA) with clinical screening protocols for identification of dysphagia in acute stroke. Methods In all, 62 patients with acute stroke were evaluated for spontaneous swallow frequency rates using a validated acoustic analysis technique. Independent of SFA, these same patients received a routine nurse-administered clinical dysphagia screening as part of standard stroke care. Both screening tools were compared against a validated clinical assessment of dysphagia for acute stroke. In addition, psychometric properties of SFA were compared against published, validated clinical screening protocols. Results Spontaneous SFA differentiates patients with versus without dysphagia after acute stroke. Using a previously identified cut point based on swallows per minute, spontaneous SFA demonstrated superior ability to identify dysphagia cases compared with a nurse-administered clinical screening tool. In addition, spontaneous SFA demonstrated equal or superior psychometric properties to 4 validated, published clinical dysphagia screening tools. Conclusions Spontaneous SFA has high potential to identify dysphagia in acute stroke with psychometric properties equal or superior to clinical screening protocols. PMID:25088166

Technology transfer through performance management: the effects of graphical feedback and positive reinforcement on drug treatment counselors' behavior.

PubMed

Andrzejewski, M E; Kirby, K C; Morral, A R; Iguchi, M Y

2001-07-01

After drug treatment counselors at a community-based methadone treatment clinic were trained in implementing a contingency management (CM) intervention, baseline measures of performance revealed that, on average, counselors were meeting the performance criteria specified by the treatment protocol about 42% of the time. Counselors were exposed to graphical feedback and a drawing for cash prizes in an additive within-subjects design to assess the effectiveness of these interventions in improving protocol adherence. Counselor performance measures increased to 71% during the graphical feedback condition, and to 81% during the drawing. Each counselor's performance improved during the intervention conditions. Additional analyses suggested that counselors did not have skill deficits that hindered implementation. Rather, protocol implementation occurred more frequently when consequences were added, thereby increasing the overall proportion of criteria met. Generalizations, however, may be limited due to a small sample size and possible confounding of time and intervention effects. Nonetheless, present results show promise that feedback and positive reinforcement could be used to improve technology transfer of behavioral interventions into community clinic settings.

Spontaneous swallow frequency compared with clinical screening in the identification of dysphagia in acute stroke.

PubMed

Crary, Michael A; Carnaby, Giselle D; Sia, Isaac

2014-09-01

The aim of this study was to compare spontaneous swallow frequency analysis (SFA) with clinical screening protocols for identification of dysphagia in acute stroke. In all, 62 patients with acute stroke were evaluated for spontaneous swallow frequency rates using a validated acoustic analysis technique. Independent of SFA, these same patients received a routine nurse-administered clinical dysphagia screening as part of standard stroke care. Both screening tools were compared against a validated clinical assessment of dysphagia for acute stroke. In addition, psychometric properties of SFA were compared against published, validated clinical screening protocols. Spontaneous SFA differentiates patients with versus without dysphagia after acute stroke. Using a previously identified cut point based on swallows per minute, spontaneous SFA demonstrated superior ability to identify dysphagia cases compared with a nurse-administered clinical screening tool. In addition, spontaneous SFA demonstrated equal or superior psychometric properties to 4 validated, published clinical dysphagia screening tools. Spontaneous SFA has high potential to identify dysphagia in acute stroke with psychometric properties equal or superior to clinical screening protocols. Copyright © 2014 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Targeting War-Sustaining Capability at Sea: Compatibility with Additional Protocol I

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-07-01

however, it is an aspirational “model code ” proposed by a non- governmental organization, not a binding international agreement. See SAN REMO MANUAL...limits of the law of war at sea. Moreover, the Nuremburg court’s decision to convict Dönitz of violating international law but not to inflict... Nuremburg charged Dönitz with waging “unrestricted submarine warfare contrary to the Naval Protocol of 1936 . . . which reaffirmed the rules of submarine