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An analysis on the current present pension system in Russia, on the three main components of the pension system, which are social security, mandatory pension schemes, and non-mandatory pension schemes, is presented. A case study on the pension benefits, offered by a German multinational chemical manufacturer, to its Russia employees, is discussed.

SMP servers equipped with six and eight Pentium Pros are ready to go. Here's how they stack up as computing muscle for the power-hungry enterprise. It's not an unfamiliar scenario: […]

NT servers challenge Unix systems on intranets--and prove equal to the task. The mainstreaming of Internet technology into everyday applications is fueling a radical transformation in corporate information systems. The […]

Each OS has something to recommend its place in your server closet. To maintain order, however, you must limit the total number of OSes you run. Let's look at how […]

Technology leaders agree: Change is the only sure thing about computing in the next decade. Twenty-five years ago, IC engineers fired the first shot in a technology revolution that changed […]

Is Microsoft's Windows NT 4.0 the answer to our OS prayers or just a set of incremental improvements? Product INFORMATION Windows NT 4.0 Workstation: $319; upgrade, $149. Server: five-user license, […]

More recently (long after l'd abandoned BACKUP), I modified the function to add an interface for the BASIC language as well as support for 720Kb and 1.44Mb diskettes. In this […]

As new types of diskette drives are introduced, indentification techniques depend on particular hardware characteristics are becoming obsolete and inaccurate. It was once sufficient, for example, to assume that an […]

Sophisticated care for small burns While most burns seen in primary care office practice can be readily and successfully treated by a modified open method (see 'Treating small burns: A [...]

It is known that amino acid uptake by skeletal muscles is reduced during intra-abdominal sepsis (poisoning of the blood caused by microorganisms and their toxic by-products) and endotoxemia (presence of endotoxin in the blood). Endotoxin is a poison contained in the walls of some microorganisms, particularly intestinal bacteria; it is released when the organism dies and then is broken down by the body. Endotoxemia causes various symptoms, including fever and chills. It has been suggested that circulating factors may reduce amino acid transport. It may be that reduced amino acid uptake results from changed hemodynamics (blood flow and function). A study of rats was undertaken to determine if reduced muscle uptake of amino acids is due to hypotension (low blood pressure) or some factor present in the blood. The results did show that muscle uptake of amino acids was reduced when the rats were endotoxic. When hypotension was induced in endotoxic rats, the amino acid uptake was unchanged, making hemodynamic causes of changed uptake appear unlikely. Amino acid uptake was reduced when plasma from endotoxic rats was added to muscle tissue; this suggests that circulating factors may cause altered amino acid transport. Exactly what factor it is that causes this change is still unknown, however it probably has a molecular weight of less than 10,000 daltons. It is not probable that the endotoxin itself caused the reduced amino acid uptake, because when endotoxin alone was added to muscle, it had no effect on amino acid uptake. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

His seminal paper, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," led to the introduction of the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Alan Turing did not answer his own question, although he speculated that by the year 2000, machines would have passed his test for what he believed would constitute thinking, which became known as "the Turing test." But can a machine really think, or is it somehow artificial? If a machine can convince humans that it can think, then can humans really think?Allegedly, a few examples exist of programs that pass the Turing test, but in the end, the arguments that the machines are thinking are not convincing. To put it mildly, the intelligence of the machines clearly remains artificial. Notwithstanding, AI has made significant progress and has been useful in a number of important applications. But the issue of whether artificial intelligence can actually attain "thinking" remains open. This article is about whether thinking is a reasonable goal of AI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is increasingly important to be able to prove that you are who you say you are. Logging into a computer, operating an ATM, voting, and making purchases on credit all require authentication. The field of biometrics studies anatomical, physiological, and behavioral attributes of humans that can be used to distinguish one person from others. Historically, modalities like fingerprints have been used to uniquely identify a person. Biometric measures can be used to authenticate a person in place of less secure methods like employing badges or passwords, and thus have much appeal for practical application. As a result, the academic field of biometrics continues to spawn commercial endeavors. This paper surveys some of the promising biometric measures and considers prospects for employing DNA-based authentication methods in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous vehicle technology promises to make driverless vehicles a reality. Yet the introduction of commercial driverless vehicles has been delayed, and there are warning signals that perhaps the technology will not be ready any time soon. We list some of the warnings, successes to date, and challenges to their introduction and integration into the transportation enterprise. We note some particular special cases where introduction might be possible in the short term. One difficulty is that the development of autonomous vehicle technology is proceeding under the assumption that the infrastructure (the roads, and other vehicles) will provide minimal assistance. We note that government could accelerate the development by providing standards, sensors, and communications as part of the infrastructure as improvements are made to roads and bridges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does a low price tag always equal a value? We put five sub-$1000 PCs-- all Pentium alternatives--to the test. For over a decade, PC manufacturers have tried to find the […]

As rival companies squabble over standards, some hardware and content manufacturers are adopting a wait-and-see attitude toward rolling out products based on Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), the technology that may […]