SatNOGS Website Project

The SatNOGS Website project aims to create a web interface for the SatNOGS, or Satellite Network Open Ground Stations, project. The intent of the ongoing project is to make the main SatNOGS project more accessible by creating a web-based software system that contains many of the necessary features needed to run a ground station, and do it in a way that is visually appealing and human-friendly, and to also provide an extension to the main client for control and information presentation needs. A large feature that the application will offer is displaying much of the information that the transmitter is receiving, such as where in the sky the satellite that is being observed is at, whether the ground station is currently on the network, whether it is able to receive information, and even more data on the satellite it is looking at, including possibly a picture and the raw data the satellite is transmitting. This work is being done in collaboration with the ECE Department at Valparaiso University, which is working on aspects of the physical and electronic components. This project, in addition to contributing to this international effort, also provides a laboratory for experiencing and learning the technology and processes for large-scale software system construction

Mainstreaming Gender in HIV/AIDS Programs: Ongoing Challenges and New Opportunities in Malawi

Numerous efforts are in place in Malawi to address the high rates of HIV/AIDS in the country. Furthermore, several successes in HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation (including free anti-retroviral drugs to people living with AIDS) have been documented. Fewer successes, however, have been achieved in integrating gender issues into HIV/AIDS programs. In this article I begin by defining gender mainstreaming and why it is central to HIV/AIDS programming. The second objective of this paper is to summarize the existing initiatives to mainstream gender in HIV/AIDS programs. The final objective is to uncover the ongoing needs, gaps and challenges for gender mainstreaming in HIV/AIDS programs. One of the biggest hurdles in HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation remains the attitudes and cultural norms which reinforce women’s disadvantaged position. Efforts to mainstream gender into HIV/AIDS programs are inadequate because they address women’s practical needs rather than their strategic interests. Thus, current gender mainstreaming strategies are limited by the superficiality of the approaches for addressing gender inequality and HIV/AIDS, underscoring the need for transformative planning

Using a sand wave model for optimal monitoring of navigation depth

In the Euro Channel to Rotterdam Harbor, sand waves reduce the navigable depth to an unacceptable level. To avoid the risk of grounding, the navigation depth is monitored and sand waves that reduce the navigation depth unacceptably are dredged. After the dredging, the sand waves slowly regain their original height. To reduce the high costs of surveying and dredging, the North Sea Service of the Department of Transport, PublicWorks andWater Management, is implementing a Decision Support System to reduce the required amount of surveys and provide optimal information on the necessity to dredge. Currently, the system predicts the growth of sand waves using a linear trend. The trend is determined from observations using a Kalman-filter including geo-statistical components to incorporate spatial dependencies. This works well for sand waves that are close to their maximum height. After dredging however, the sand wave height is far from its equilibrium and the growth rate is much higher, making the linear prediction worthless. Here we show that replacing the linear trend with a landau equation improves the predictions of the regeneration. Comparison shows that the landau equation predicts the crest evolution better than the linear equation for both undisturbed sand waves and dredged sand waves, with an root mean square error that is 25% less

Strategien bei der Veröffentlichung von Forschungsdaten

Forschungsdaten liegen in Abhängigkeit der Disziplinen in vielfältigen Formen und Formaten vor. Sie sind in allen Disziplinen Teil des wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisprozesses. Als digitales Informationsobjekt sind sie komplex und bislang wenig untersucht. Mit den Möglichkeiten neuer Informationstechnologien werden in den letzten Jahren neue Wege in der Publikation von Forschungsdaten beschritten. Mit Blick auf die Naturwissenschaften werden im Folgenden drei Publikationsmodelle beschrieben: Die Veröffentlichung von Forschungsdaten als eigenständiges Objekt in einem Forschungsdatenrepositorium, die Veröffentlichung von Forschungsdaten mit textueller Dokumentation und die Veröffentlichung von Forschungsdaten als Anreicherung einer interpretativen Text-Publikation.

Assigning Creative Commons Licenses to Research Metadata: Issues and Cases

This paper discusses the problem of lack of clear licensing and transparency of usage terms and conditions for research metadata. Making research data connected, discoverable and reusable are the key enablers of the new data revolution in research. We discuss how the lack of transparency hinders discovery of research data and make it disconnected from the publication and other trusted research outcomes. In addition, we discuss the application of Creative Commons licenses for research metadata, and provide some examples of the applicability of this approach to internationally known data infrastructures.Comment: 9 pages. Submitted to the 29th International Conference on Legal Knowledge and Information Systems (JURIX 2016), Nice (France) 14-16 December 201

MiMC:Efficient Encryption and Cryptographic Hashing with Minimal Multiplicative Complexity

We explore cryptographic primitives with low multiplicative complexity. This is motivated by recent progress in practical applications of secure multi-party computation (MPC), fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), and zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) where primitives from symmetric cryptography are needed and where linear computations are, compared to non-linear operations, essentially ``free\u27\u27. Starting with the cipher design strategy ``LowMC\u27\u27 from Eurocrypt 2015, a number of bit-oriented proposals have been put forward, focusing on applications where the multiplicative depth of the circuit describing the cipher is the most important optimization goal. Surprisingly, albeit many MPC/FHE/ZK-protocols natively support operations in \GF{p} for large $p$, very few primitives, even considering all of symmetric cryptography, natively work in such fields. To that end, our proposal for both block ciphers and cryptographic hash functions is to reconsider and simplify the round function of the Knudsen-Nyberg cipher from 1995. The mapping $F(x) := x^3$ is used as the main component there and is also the main component of our family of proposals called ``MiMC\u27\u27. We study various attack vectors for this construction and give a new attack vector that outperforms others in relevant settings. Due to its very low number of multiplications, the design lends itself well to a large class of new applications, especially when the depth does not matter but the total number of multiplications in the circuit dominates all aspects of the implementation. With a number of rounds which we deem secure based on our security analysis, we report on significant performance improvements in a representative use-case involving SNARKs

Peak phosphorus: Implications for agricultural production, the environment and development

Phosphorus is a key element in food production, but is a non-renewable resource. Recent estimates suggest that global production of P fertilizers will peak in 2033 and will be one third of that peak level by the end of the 21st century. Population and income growth will increase demand for food, and especially animal protein, the production of which will accelerate the rundown in P reserves and the consequential rise in fertilizer prices. The global distribution of current P fertilizer use divides countries into the haves which in many cases face severe pollution problems from excess P, and the have-nots in which low input use annually drains soil P reserves. Coping strategies include improvements in the efficiency of fertilizer P manufacture and use, and the recycling of P in liquid and solid wastes. The latter approach offers win-win solutions by reducing the environmental pollution of water in highly populated areas. Future utilisation of scarce P reserves requires policy decisions that take account of equity, productivity, environmental and trade considerations. Biological solutions designed to increase P use efficiency, such as improving crop varieties and mycorrhiza associations, and the use of P accumulating plants as green manures, are also considered

Phosphorus status and cycling in native savanna and improved pastures on an acid low-P Colombian Oxisol

On acid low-phosphorus (P) Colombian Oxisols, improved pastures with acid-soil-tolerant grass and legume varieties have increased beef production by a factor of 10 to 15 with only modest P fertilizer inputs. This indicates that the efficiency of P fertilization could be greater than is commonly expected on such strongly P-sorbing soils. To understand the effect of improved pastures on P cycling and availability, we estimated P budgets, and characterized soil P by sequential fractionation, isotopic exchange and biological activity measurements on soil samples from unfertilized native savanna, and fertilized improved grass-only (Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk) and grass-legume (B. decumbens + Pueraria phaseoloides, Kudzu) pastures established in 1978 on a medium-textured isohyperthermic, tropeptic haplustox. Comparison of calculated P budgets, based on inputs and exports, with total soil P contents showed that fertilization, as part of the improved pasture management, had resulted in a measurable increase of total P in the surface 0-20 cm soil layer of nearly 30 mg kg-1 or about 20% over the savanna level. Sequential soil P fractionation of different seasonal samplings indicated that grass-legume maintained higher organic and available inorganic P levels with less temporal variation than the two other types. The linkage of organic P and available P was also reflected in soil biological activity. Estimates of P in microbial biomass and phosphatase activity were significantly higher in grass-legume than grass-only and savanna. The improvement in soil P availability, as measured by solution P concentration, P sorption and exchangeable P, was much greater in grass-legume than in grass-only. With comparable fertilizer inputs and greater product exports, improved P availability in grass-legume cannot be due to differences in budgets but can be attributed to changes in the overall biological activity in the soil-plant system caused by the presence of legumes in the vegetation cover. Total C, organic P content and macrofaunal activity were all significantly higher in grass-legume soils. Greater turnover of organic litter in grass-legume may provide for steadier organic P inputs and, therefore, higher P cycling and availabilit