Broadband ISDN control using neural networks

Broadband Integrated Services Digital Networks (B-ISDN) are considered to become the standard communications networks in the near future. Major research efford is being applied in determining the appropriate mode of operation for B-ISDN systems. Two proposals, the Synchronous Transfer Mode (STM) and the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) claim to best fit the B-ISDN transmission requirements individually. A new method for B-ISDN traffic control is proposed in this paper. This method assigns priority levels to incoming traffic while integrating STM with ATM. A neural network is used to decide how the multiplexing of the incoming packets will be performed. Several traffic patterns are used for the simulation of the proposed B-ISDN controller

Nitrogen Nutrition Effect on Aeroponic Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) Catalase and Lipid Peroxidation

Considering the physiological importance of nitrogen (N) for the plant growth and its controversial role in the plant oxidative status, the objective of this research was to investigate the effect of three different N nutrition solution concentrations (1.8, 3.6 and 11.5 mM) on leaf and root oxidative stress of aeroponically cultured basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) plants. Catalase (CAT) activity and lipid peroxidation (LP) were used as oxidative stress indexes at two different growth stages (10 and 15 week-old plants respectively). Leaf and root CAT activity was enhanced by the increment of N concentration at both growth stages of the plants. Especially in younger, high N nourished plants, 130 and 149% increments of the leaf and root CAT activities were observed respectively, in comparison with the low N nourished ones. Moreover, the root enzyme seems to be a bifunctional catalase-peroxidase considering its insensitivity to aminotriazole. On the other hand, root LP seems to be unaffected at this N concentration range whereas leaf LP was enhanced at high N levels, especially in younger plants. These results suggest that increased N nutrition induces oxidative stress mainly in the leaves of aeroponically grown basil plants while the increase of CAT activity probably represents a part of plant's antioxidative defense against potent cellular damage similar to membrane lipid peroxidation

Secondary special education teachers’ beliefs towards their teaching self-efficacy

The self-efficacy of special education teachers is a key aspect of the educational process for inclusive learning and co-teaching. However, research on self-efficacy perceptions in the area of special education and particularly in the field of parallel support is very limited. The aim of this research is to adapt a scale measuring the beliefs of special education teachers’ self-efficacy in supporting students in need of parallel support in secondary education and therefore to investigate those beliefs as well as the factors that affect them. The study involved 147 special educators for supporting students in Greek junior high schools or high schools. To study and investigate the research questions, the “Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale” (TSES) of Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk-Hoy (2001) was adapted. The results demonstrate that special education teachers report high levels of teaching self-efficacy with male special education teachers being distinguished by significantly higher self-efficacy levels, compared to females. Moreover, a positive correlation between the experience of participants and their levels of self-efficacy, a small negative correlation between the number of supported students and their levels of self-efficacy regarding teaching strategies as well as a medium negative correlation between the number of supported students and their levels of self-efficacy regarding student management, were revealed

Extending the Technology Acceptance Model 3 to Incorporate the Phenomenon of Warm-Glow

In this paper, we extend the third evolution of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM3) to incorporate warm-glow with the aim of understanding the role this phenomenon plays on user adoption decisions. Warm-glow is the feeling of satisfaction or pleasure (or both) that is experienced by individuals after they do something “good” for their fellow human. Two constructs—perceived extrinsic warm-glow (PEWG) and perceived intrinsic warm-glow (PIWG)—were incorporated into the TAM3 model to measure the two dimensions of user-experienced warm-glow, forming what we refer to as the TAM3 + WG model. An experimental approach was taken to evaluate the suitability of the proposed model (i.e., TAM3 + WG). A vignette was created to present users with a hypothet- ical technology designed to evoke warm-glow in participants. Our TAM3 + WG model was found to be superior in terms of fit to the TAM3 model. Furthermore, the PEWG and PIWG constructs were confirmed to be unique within the original TAM3 model. The findings indicate that the factors that have the greatest influence on consumer decisions are (in decreasing order) perceived useful- ness (PU), PIWG, subjective norm (SN), and PEWG. Additionally, a higher PEWG resulted in the technology being perceived as more useful. In other words, both extrinsic and intrinsic warm-glow play a prominent role in user decisions as to whether or not to adopt a particular technology

The Effect of Warm-Glow on User Perceived Usability and Intention to Adopt Technology: Extending UTAUT2

In this work we investigate the effect that warm-glow has on user's perception of the usability of a technology as well as their intention to adopt within the context of the second version of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTUAT2). The UTAUT2 model was extended for this purpose, incorporating two existing constructs designed to capture the two aspects of warm-low (extrinsic and intrinsic), forming the UTAUT2 + WG model. An experimental approach was then taken to evaluate this proposed model, where participants were exposed to a vignette describing a hypothetical technology which was designed to evoke a feeling of warm-glow. The collected data was analyzed using the partial least squares approach in order to evaluate our ex-tended model/ The results revealed that warm-glow does indeed influence user behavior and plays a prominent role. Warm-glow was found to influence user perception of the usability of a technology, where effectiveness is reflected through the factor of performance expectancy (PE), efficiency through the factor of effort expectancy (EE), and satisfaction through hedonic motivation (HM). Furthermore, warm-glow was found to influence user behavioral intention to adopt technology. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings

Secondary special education teachers’ beliefs towards their teaching self-efficacy

The self-efficacy of special education teachers is a key aspect of the educational process for inclusive learning and co-teaching. However, research on self-efficacy perceptions in the area of special education and particularly in the field of parallel support is very limited. The aim of this research is to adapt a scale measuring the beliefs of special education teachers’ self-efficacy in supporting students in need of parallel support in secondary education and therefore to investigate those beliefs as well as the factors that affect them. The study involved 147 special educators for supporting students in Greek junior high schools or high schools. To study and investigate the research questions, the “Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale” (TSES) of Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk-Hoy (2001) was adapted. The results demonstrate that special education teachers report high levels of teaching self-efficacy with male special education teachers being distinguished by significantly higher self-efficacy levels, compared to females. Moreover, a positive correlation between the experience of participants and their levels of self-efficacy, a small negative correlation between the number of supported students and their levels of self-efficacy regarding teaching strategies as well as a medium negative correlation between the number of supported students and their levels of self-efficacy regarding student management, were revealed

Reproductive and hormonal factors and mortality among women with colorectal cancer in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study

BACKGROUND: Although use of menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) and some reproductive factors have been associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, relations between these factors and survival after CRC diagnosis are unclear. METHODS: Among 2053 post-menopausal women diagnosed with incident CRC in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, we calculated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression to test associations between oral contraceptive (OC) use, menarche age, age at first birth, parity, menopausal age, and MHT use with all-cause and CRC-specific mortality. RESULTS: There were 759 deaths (332 CRC-related deaths) over a median follow-up of 7.7 years. We observed no statistically significant associations between OC use, menarche age, age at first birth, parity, menopausal age, and mortality. Compared with never MHT use, former use was not associated with mortality, but we found an inverse association among baseline current users, for both all-cause (HR=0.79, 95% CI 0.66–0.94) and CRC mortality (0.76, 0.59–0.99). CONCLUSION: Future studies should further focus on the mechanisms by which exogenous oestrogen exposure might affect tumour progression and CRC survival

SUPLEMENTOS MINERAIS QUELATADOS PARA VACAS NELORE: DESEMPENHO CORPORAL, QUALIDADE OOCITÁRIA E ESTRESSE OXIDATIVO

Objetivou-se neste estudo avaliar o ganho de peso, escore de condição corporal, qualidade oocitária e o nível de estresse oxidativo do líquido folicular de vacas suplementadas com cobre, zinco e selênio na forma quelatada. Cada grupo foi mantido em piquete de Brachiaria brizantha cv Marandu, recebendo 1 kg de animal/dia via suplemento proteinado durante o período de 99 dias com duas aspirações foliculares. Os oócitos aspirados foram classificados como: viáveis e não viáveis. No líquido folicular foi mensurado o nível de estresse oxidativo através da concentração de TBARS. Não foi verificado efeito (p>0,10) da suplementação com minerais quelatados sobre o número de oócitos não viáveis e peso corporal. Houve efeito para ECC final (p= 0,0592) entre os grupos suplementados (GC 4,83 ± 0,7 e GS 5,27 ± 0,14), ganho ECC (p=0,0178) para o GS e GC (0,82 ± 0,18 e 0,25 ± 0,13, respectivamente) Houve redução para o nível de estresse oxidativo (0,003099 ±1,1141X10-5 VS 0,003094 ± 9,7251 x 10-6 ng/mL GC e GS, respectivamente). A suplementação oral com mineral zinco,cobre e selênio na forma quelatada não influenciou o número de oócitos aspirados por coleta e reduziu o nível de estresse oxidativo do líquido folicular

Cascading Verification: An Integrated Method for Domain-Specific Model Checking

Model checking is an established formal method for verifying the desired behavioral properties of system models. But popular model checkers tend to support low-level modeling languages that require intricate models to represent even the simplest systems. Modeling complexity arises in part from the need to encode domain knowledge, including domain objects and concepts, and their relationships, at relatively low levels of abstraction. We will demonstrate that, once formalized, domain knowledge can be reused to enhance the abstraction level of model and property specifications, and the effectiveness of probabilistic model checking. This thesis describes a novel method for domain-specific model checking called cascading verification. The method uses composite reasoning over high-level system specifications and formalized domain knowledge to synthesize both low-level system models and the behavioral properties that need to be verified with respect to those models. In particular, model builders use a high-level domain-specific language (DSL) to encode system specifications that can be analyzed with model checking. Domain knowledge is encoded in the Web Ontology Language (OWL), the Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) and Prolog, which are combined to overcome their individual limitations. Synthesized models and properties are analyzed with the probabilistic model checker PRISM. Cascading verification is illustrated with a prototype system that verifies the correctness of uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) mission plans. An evaluation of this prototype reveals non-trivial reductions in the size and complexity of input system specifications compared to the artifacts synthesized for PRISM

Exploring the Effect of Resolution on the Usability of Locimetric Authentication

Locimetric authentication is a form of graphical authentication in which users validate their identity by selecting predetermined points on a predetermined image. Its primary advantage over the ubiquitous text-based approach stems from users' superior ability to remember visual information over textual information, coupled with the authentication process being transformed to one requiring recognition (instead of recall). Ideally, these differentiations enable users to create more complex passwords, which theoretically are more secure. Yet locimetric authentication has one significant weakness: hot-spots. This term refers to areas of an image that users gravitate towards, and which consequently have a higher probability of being selected. Although many strategies have been proposed to counter the hot-spot problem, one area that has received little attention is that of resolution. The hypothesis here is that high-resolution images would afford the user a larger password space, and consequently any hot-spots would dissipate. We employ an experimental approach, where users generate a series of locimetric passwords on either low- or high-resolution images. Our research reveals the presence of hot-spots even in high-resolution images, albeit at a lower level than that exhibited with low-resolution images. We conclude by reinforcing that other techniques - such as existing or new software controls or training - need to be utilized to mitigate the emergence of hot-spots with the locimetric scheme.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure