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The article offers information on the fully web enabled online manuscript submission and review system for the "Evolutionary Ecology" journal contributors by Springer in the U.S. The new system was offered for the authors, editors and reviewers of the journal as it will provide them an easy and straightforward log-in and submission procedures. The system supports a wide range of submission file formats such as for manuscripts, Word, Word-Perfect, RTF, TXT and LaTex. While for figures, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, EPS, PPT and Postscript. Format for the manuscripts are also presented by the author for further information.

This paper describes several small printed circuit board planar antennas that can be integrated with amplifiers for short-range vehicle wireless communication. The antennas are designed for the 315-MHz frequency band, which is commonly used for control and security devices in the USA and Canada. Each antenna has dimensions of 50 × 70 mm (much less than the free-space wavelength λ = 0.95 m) and is implemented on FR-4 dielectric substrate. These investigated antennas were compared with respect to input impedance, radiation resistance, radiation efficiency, directivity, directionality, bandwidth, matching system complexity, and gain. This paper also includes experimental verification of the final antenna design in the vehicle. It is shown that the antenna diversity method can increase communication range for remote keyless entry systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of smart grid gained tremendous attention among researchers and utility providers in recent years. How to establish a secure communication among smart meters, utility companies, and the service providers is a challenging issue. In this paper, we present a communication architecture for smart grids and propose a scheme to guarantee the security and privacy of data communications among smart meters, utility companies, and data repositories by employing decentralized attribute based encryption. The architecture is highly scalable, which employs an access control Linear Secret Sharing Scheme (LSSS) matrix to achieve a role-based access control. The security analysis demonstrated that the scheme ensures security and privacy. The performance analysis shows that the scheme is efficient in terms of computational cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) offers to business firms the opportunity to improve productivity by utilizing electronic transaction processing as an integral part of business strategy, EDI may become particularly valuable in enhancing management information and control. This paper outlines the foundations of EDI and presents the results of a 1988 survey on the use of EDI by U.S. firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Great efforts are devoted to end the HIV epidemic as it continues to have profound public health consequences in the United States and throughout the world, and new interventions and strategies are continuously needed. The use of HIV sequence data to infer transmission networks holds much promise to direct public heath interventions where they are most needed. As these new methods are being implemented, evaluating their benefits is essential. In this paper, we recognize challenges associated with such evaluation, and make the case that overcoming these challenges is key to the use of HIV sequence data in routine public health actions to disrupt HIV transmission networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes results from a channel measurement campaign performed at several small airports in the U.S. in the 5-GHz band. This paper is a companion to another paper, which describes channel models for large airports. We classify the small airport surface channel into three propagation regions based upon different delay dispersion conditions. The channel characteristics of these regions in the delay and frequency domains are discussed with examples. We provide empirical stochastic channel models (of different bandwidths) to accurately represent the channel on the airport surface area for all propagation regions. The models are provided in the form of tapped delay lines, and complete statistical tap descriptions are given. Several key observations, including the presence of severe amplitude fading, some correlated scattering, and statistically nonstationary behavior, are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A complete complementary code based direct sequence code division multiple access (CC/DS-CDMA) system has been proposed recently as a potential candidate for beyond third generation (B3G) wireless communications. This paper addresses the issues that design of efficient code assignment schemes should be based on a flexible physical layer support, which is extremely important for emerging cross-layer designs in future wireless applications. The study in this paper considers a CC/DS-CDMA system with multiple time slots, three traffic classes and two dynamic code-flock assignment schemes, namely random assignment (RA) and compact assignment (CA). Simulation results show that the CC/DS-CDMA system has variable capacity property (VCP), which is sensitively affected by different code-flock assignment schemes. In general, CA can offer lower blocking probability, whereas RA can offer a larger mean system capacity and higher throughput when offered traffic is heavy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although next-generation information network infrastructure is prerequisite for continued economic growth, the United States is losing ground in important areas relative to peer countries. Businesses and regulators have grown concerned that the U.S. lacks the correct regulatory and business incentives to upgrade the existing network. Due to the complex and dynamic nature of the interdependencies in the ICT value network, traditional methods of public policy and management analysis have proven inadequate to fully understand the issues and possible solutions. This paper discusses a novel Genetic Programming (GP) approach to the problem. Although only a first step towards addressing the problem, the GP discovered several interesting results stemming from the complex interactions. For example, telecommunications companies would actually be hurt by the option to charge discriminatory prices but application providers would benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the diffusion patterns of eight information technologies that are transforming HR service-delivery in North America and Europe: HR functional applications, integrated HR suites, IVR systems, HR intranets, employee and manager self-service applications, FIR extranets, and FIR portals. Little is known about the diffusion process for these innovations within or across countries despite mounting professional and academic interest in their proliferation. Design/methodology/approach - The paper shows that external-, internal-, and mixed-influence models were applied to the HRIT-adoption decisions of a cross-sectional sample of US, Canadian, UK and Irish firms. Parameter estimation was guided by nonlinear regression procedures with starting values for p and q set at levels similar to those reported in prior IT-diffusion studies. Senior HR executives provided the underlying data by means of a dynamically branching, web-based survey. Findings - The paper finds that overall diffusion was best characterized as an outgrowth of internal influences, fueled primarily by contacts among members in the social system of potential adopters. Similar results were obtained when controls were introduced for national setting, targeted end-user, and technology type. Research limitations/implications - The paper shows that future investigations would benefit from higher response rates outside of North America and the utilization of smaller time intervals to identify when each application was acquired. Practical implications - In the paper the modest correlation between the number of acquired ITs and FIR-transaction automation supports the general call for more formalized HR-technology strategies at the firm-level to coordinate purchasing and implementation decisions. Originality/value - In addition to reviewing the extant literature on HR information systems, this paper presents the first empirical study of the diffusion process for FIR software applications within and across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main characteristics of wireless ad hoc networks is their node-centric broadcast nature of communication, leading to interferences and spatial contention between adjacent wireless links. Due to such interferences, pessimistic concerns have been recently raised with respect to the decreasing network capacity in wireless ad hoc networks when the number of nodes scales to several orders of magnitude higher. Such studies assume uniformly distributed nodes in the network and randomized traffic patterns. In this paper, we argue that in all cases of end-to-end data communications—including one-to-k unicast and multicast data dissemination as well as/c-to-one data aggregation—the maximum achievable end-to-end data throughput (measured on the sources) heavily depends on the strategy of arranging the topology of transmission between sources and destinations, as well as possible per-node operations such as coding. An optimal strategy achieves better end-to-end throughput than an arbitrary one. We present theoretical studies and critical insights with respect to how these strategies may be designed so that end-to-end throughput may be increased. After all, under all circumstances—in either a lightly loaded or a congested network—increasing end-to-end throughput from its baseline is always beneficial to applications using ad hoc networks to communicate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Joint scheduling and power control schemes have previously been proposed to reduce power dissipation in wireless ad hoc networks. However, instead of power consumption, throughput is a more important performance concern for some emerging multihop wireless networks, such as wireless mesh networks. This paper examines joint link scheduling and power control with the objective of throughput improvement. The MAximum THroughput link Scheduling with Power Control (MATH-SPC) problem is first formulated and then a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulation is presented to provide optimal solutions. However, simply maximizing the throughput may lead to a severe bias on bandwidth allocation among links. To achieve a good tradeoff between throughput and fairness, a new parameter called the demand satisfaction factor (DSF) to characterize the fairness of bandwidth allocation and formulate the MAximum Throughput fAir link Scheduling with Power Control (MATA-SPC) problem is defined. An MILP formulation and an effective polynomial-time heuristic algorithm, namely, the serial linear programming rounding (SLPR) heuristic, to solve the MATA-SPC problem are also presented. Numerical results show that bandwidth can be fairly allocated among all links/flows by solving the MILP formulation or by using the heuristic algorithm at the cost of a minor reduction of network throughput. In addition, extensions to end-to-end throughput and fairness and multiradio wireless multihop networks are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the 70-year history of NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC), technology development efforts that promoted advancement in aeronautics technologies, aerospace sciences, materials for hostile environments, and microgravity physics have also enabled the maturation of technologies that have affected medical practice on Earth, in the air, and in space. GRC's unique skill mix, required for aeronautics research and space exploration, ultimately also advanced the development of a wide array of capabilities applicable to biomedical engineering. This paper presents a historical review of notable biomedical endeavors at GRC that have addressed common and uncommon medical conditions afflicting both astronauts and non-astronauts. It also highlights the unique physiological stressors associated with residing in space. The physiological changes associated with these stimuli present evolving challenges for researchers to devise new and innovative medical interventions and technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of technologies that allow interoperable radios on a number of networked nodes for tactical scenarios has seen much interest in recent years. In particular, the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) is one project aimed at designing interoperable tactical data links for a number of scenarios involving United States and coalition forces. The JTRS project was motivated by a number of factors concerning extant tactical data links. These factors include a lack of interoperability and the proprietary nature of the radios required, as well as the inability of such links to allow high-rate ad hoc networked communications in a highly mobile environment. It has been suggested that existing commercial off-the-shelf equipment could perhaps be used for tactical networking. Subsequently, in a previous paper by the author, preliminary results were presented for an example tactical networking scenario. In that paper, it was assumed that high-gain antennas could be used in such a way that they always provided maximum gain, irrespective of the locations of each node, and the types of antenna gain patterns that could be achieved with such antennas. Additionally, size, weight and power (SWAP) constraints were not considered. In this paper, SWAP constraints are considered in determining an example set of transmit power and antenna types to investigate the effects of such practical constraints on the data rates that could be achieved. Also, a single ground-reflector model is used for the wireless channel, instead of the line-of-sight only model assumed in the previous work. Results obtained by simulation of an adaptive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing scheme are provided for a range of possible asset separation distances. These results highlight both the effect of distance-dependent signal attenuation, and also antenna pointing mismatch. Such effects would need to be jointly considered when designing a high-rate tactical data network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents information security breaches affecting the US military computer networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The paper seeks to review the factors and methods used to integrate multiple ERP systems to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA) in an EAI environment focusing on the SAP business warehouse application. Design/methodology/approach - The paper examines earlier research, surveys, actual processes and documentation defined in the SAP system as well as information gathered from developers, auditors and compliance experts. Findings - To comply with the SOA, it is advisable to look to the area of EAI for assistance. The challenge of configuring a landscape to comply with the SOA without EAI means that most of the links for data transfer would be interfaces versus integration, which is not acceptable to compliance groups. For SOA requirements, including internal controls, testing, security, authorisations and consistency and speeds, there are tools to help successfully achieve the goal of IT compliance in the SAP environment. Research limitations/implications - As SOA continues to take shape, further review and investigation of how these changes will affect the EAI environment must be undertaken. Practical implications - The paper provides the realisation that achieving SOA compliance is not an easy task, and that the available technology must be used to complete this task. IT must structure a governing organisation similar to that found on the applications side of the system to comply with the SOA. Originality/value - With the passing and implementation of the SOA, companies are experiencing additional pressure to develop the means to constantly audit themselves internally. As technology is the key to achieving this goal, organisations must prepare their IT infrastructures to support compliance and the IT departments to develop strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with channel acquisition and tracking in the uplink of a multicarrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) system. The transmission medium is characterized by multipath propagation, and the goal is to estimate the channel frequency response and the noise-power of each active user. Channel acquisition is performed jointly with the noise-power estimation following two different approaches. The first assumes independently faded subcarriers, while the second exploits the fading correlation across the signal bandwidth to improve the system performance. Both schemes are based on the maximum likelihood (ML) criterion and exploit some training blocks carrying known symbols. Channel tracking is pursued through least mean square (LMS) techniques using data decisions provided by a partial parallel interference cancellation (PPIC) receiver. Numerical results are given to highlight the effectiveness of the proposed methods and to present comparisons with other existing solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Runtime Infrastructure (RTI) of the High Level Architec ture (HLA), the purpose of the Data Distribution Management (DDM) services is to reduce the amount of irrelevant data communicated between federates (simulations) and cut network communication cost. The current DDM schemes proposed for the RTI, i.e., region-based and grid-based DDM, are both oriented to send as little irrelevant data to subscribers as possible, but they only manage to filter part of this information and some irrelevant data is still being sent. In this paper, we employ intelligent agents to perform data filtering in HLA to address these drawbacks. In our method, each time a federate subscribes to some data, intelligent mobile agents are launched to the publishers of those data. These agents will fetch the updated data, perform data filtering and then send the subscrib ers the exact information they require. At the same time, agents will be kept notified of the updated filtering range by keeping contact with the subscribers. Based on this idea, we implement an agent based RTI (ARTI) using the FDK RTI-kit. The RTI with region-based DDM and the RTI with grid-based DDM are also implemented to aid in the comparison. The ARTI is tested and compared with the other filtering mechanisms using the AWACS sensing aircraft simulation scenario and air traffic control simulation scenario. Experimental results show that the agent-based filtering approach performs best in data filtering and communicates only relevant data, minimizing network communication. It is also comparable in terms of time efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Context: Notifiable disease surveillance is essential to rapidly identify and respond to outbreaks so that further illness can be prevented. Automating reports from clinical laboratories has been proposed to reduce underreporting and delays.Objective: To compare the timeliness and completeness of a prototypal electronic reporting system with that of conventional laboratory reporting.Design: Laboratory-based reports for 5 conditions received at a state health department between July 1 and December 31, 1998, were reviewed. Completeness of coverage for each reporting system was estimated using capture-recapture methods.Setting: Three statewide private clinical laboratories in Hawaii.Main Outcome Measures: The number and date of reports received, by reporting system, laboratory, and pathogen; completeness of data fields.Results: A total of 357 unique reports of illness were identified; 201 (56%) were received solely through the automated electronic system, 32 (9%) through the conventional system only, and 124 (35%) through both. Thus, electronic reporting resulted in a 2.3-fold (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.0-2.6) increase in reports. Electronic reports arrived an average of 3.8 (95% CI, 2.6-5.0) days earlier than conventional reports. Of 21 data fields common to paper and electronic formats, electronic reports were significantly more likely to be complete for 12 and for 1 field with the conventional system. The estimated completeness of coverage for electronic reporting was 80% (95% CI, 75%-85%) [corrected] compared with 38% (95% CI, 36%-41%) [corrected] for the conventional system.Conclusions: In this evaluation, electronic reporting more than doubled the total number of laboratory-based reports received. On average, the electronic reports were more timely and more complete, suggesting that electronic reporting may ultimately facilitate more rapid and comprehensive institution of disease control measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) recently revised the Open Discovery Initiative Recommended Practice (), which outlines best practices for discovery service providers. It streamlines the process by which libraries, content providers, and discovery service providers work together; defines models for "fair" linking; and suggests usage statistics that should be collected for libraries and for content providers. The recommendations in this document, created by members of the Open Discovery Initiative Standing Committee, enable libraries, discovery service providers, and content providers to work together to the full extent of their abilities – thus providing an effective and rich experience to end users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Despite the fact that major efforts have been expended on passive searches for extraterrestrial signals, few deliberate “transmissions” to potential alien recipients have occurred. These have generally taken the form of simple graphics depicting such things as our appearance, location, and biological construction. In this paper, we consider (a) the fundamental technical and astronomical limitations to interstellar messaging—in other words, how many “bits” could any society reasonably send, and (b) what might be a likely transmission strategy. These considerations suggest approaches for SETI programs, as well as giving insight into the types of messages we might construct for eventual replies to received signals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Quality-of-service (QoS) signaling protocols for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are highly vulnerable to attacks. In particular, a class of denial-of-service (DOS) attacks can severely cripple network performance with relatively little effort expended by the attacker. A distributed QoS signaling protocol that is resistant to a class of DoS attacks on signaling is proposed. The signaling protocol provides QoS for real-time traffic and employs mechanisms at the medium access control (MAC) layer, which serve to avoid potential attacks on network resource usage. The key MAC layer mechanisms that provide support for the QoS signaling scheme include sensing of available bandwidth, traffic policing, and rate monitoring, all of which are performed in a distributed manner by the mobile nodes. The proposed signaling scheme achieves a compromise between signaling protocols that require the maintenance of per-flow state and those that are completely stateless. The signaling scheme scales gracefully in terms of the number of nodes and/or traffic flows in the MANET. The authors analyze the security properties of the protocol and present simulation results to demonstrate its resistance to DoS attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many networks such as the Internet have been found to possess scale-free and small-world network properties reflected by power-law distributions. Scale-free properties evolve in large complex networks through self-organizing processes and, more specifically, preferential attachment. New nodes in a network tend to attach to other vertices that are already well-connected. Because traffic is routed mainly through a few highly connected and concentrated vertices, the diameter of the network is small in comparison to other network structures, and movement through the network is therefore efficient. At the same time, this efficiency feature puts scale-free networks at risk for becoming disconnected or significantly disrupted when super-connected nodes are removed, either unintentionally or through a targeted attack or external force. The present paper will examine and compare properties of telecommunication networks for both the United States and Europe. Both types of networks will be examined in terms of their network topology and specifically, whether or not they are scale-free networks to be further explored by identifying and plotting power-law [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the electronic-business environment in the Food and Drug Administration Center for Drug Evaluation and Research in the United States. Discussion on the electronic New Drug Application; Need to ensure security of electronic mails; Electronic submission of individual case safety reports.

Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology is being reinvented. What began as an elementary technique for communicating using spark-gap transmitters at the beginning of the 20th Century is now being applied to a new set of 21st Century applications. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has now taken the global lead in approving for unlicensed communications and radar use low power-spectral-density UWB transmissions that are kept below modified Part 15 limits. The multiband OFDM technology is not based on traditional short-pulse techniques, but utilizes the >500-MHz instantaneous bandwidth definition of UWB in the FCC Report and Order.

The article focuses on the status of journalism in the new digital environment where the traditional journalism has been set out of its conservative complacency. It relates the advancements of technology among lives of people in the U.S., hence, they are constantly connected to computers and cellphones, and other multimedia sources. Further, it relates that the dispute will be whether the latest economic and cultural climate will allow the survival of an informed and independent journalism, along with both the imperative for profit and the clamor for every voice to express itself.

Privacy amid rapid digitalization of medical records is a critical ingredient to the success of electronic-based health service. This paper explores the potential roles of privacy attitudes concerning medical data, based on a large set of a national sample data (n = 2638) from the U.S. Health Information National Trend Survey. We examine the ways in which privacy concern and confidence are (a) mediated through one's interest in sharing information with health professionals and (b) moderated by one's medical condition and the reliance on Internet. Evidence from this study provides insights into the factors shaping health-related engagement in information technologies, helping us argue that privacy is a key predictor. Discussion offers interpretations of how people's perceived need of medical data will mediate privacy concern, contextualizing the affordances of health technologies in future algorithmic applications. • Tenuous behavioral effects of both privacy concern and confidence were found. • Effects of concern and confidence are mediated through interest in sharing data. • Engagement with technologies is also illustration of social contexts in sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports that the Gas Industry Standards Board has released a recommended, standard, model trading partner agreement for those who want to trade information electronically rather than by fax or other means in the U.S. Purpose of the standard agreement; Terms and conditions of the partner agreement; History and background of electronic data interchange.

This article provides evidence of information transmission from the United States and Japan to Korean and Thai equity markets. Information is defined as important macroeconomic announcements in the United Stales, Japan, Korea, and Thailand. Using high-frequency intraday data, I find a large and significant association between developed-economy macroeconomic announcements and emerging-economy equity volatility and trading volume at short time horizons. Previous studies' findings of at most weak evidence of transmission from developed to emerging economies may be due to their use of lower frequency data and their focus on developed-economy financial market innovations as a proxy for information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]