Kryptografie auf programmierbarer Hardware

Sicherheitsmechanismen und kryptografische Verfahren werden mittlerweile in sehr vielen eingebetteten Systemen eingesetzt. Beim Entwurf solcher Systeme ist neben dem Schutz von Daten und der Nachrichtenauthentizit?t oft zu berücksichtigen, dass die implementierten Sicherheitsmechanismen keine Einschr?nkungen der Leistungsf?higkeit der Systeme zur Folge haben. Der Beitrag beleuchtet, wie derartige Anforderungen mit Hilfe von programmierbarer Hardware umgesetzt werden k?nnen.     

"Age differences in psychosocial predictors of positive and negative affect: A longitudinal investigation of young, midlife, and older adults": Correction to Windsor and Anstey (2010).

Reports an error in "Age differences in psychosocial predictors of positive and negative affect: A longitudinal investigation of young, midlife, and older adults" by Tim D. Windsor and Kaarin J. Anstey (Psychology and Aging, 2010[Sep], Vol 25[3], 641-652). Contains an error in Figure 3, on page 649. The correction discusses where to find the correct data. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-18944-009.) Research has consistently shown that despite aging-related losses, older adults have high levels of emotional well-being relative to those in young and midlife adults. We aimed to contribute to knowledge around the factors that predict emotional well-being over the life course by examining age group differences in associations of positive and negative social exchanges and mastery beliefs with positive and negative affect in a sample of 7,472 young, midlife, and older adults assessed on 2 measurement occasions, 4 years apart. Results from structural equation models indicated lower levels of negative affect with advancing age. Mastery was consistently related to higher well-being, with the strongest associations evident for young adults. Older adults reported the most frequent positive and least frequent negative social exchanges; however, associations of social relations with affect tended to be stronger among young and midlife adults relative to older adults. Results are discussed in the context of life course perspectives on goal orientations and self-regulatory processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the analysis and design of software for reinforcement learning, with a survey of existing systems

Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a very complex domain and software for RL is correspondingly complex. We analyse the scope, requirements, and potential for RL software, discuss relevant design issues, survey existing software, and make recommendations for designers. We argue that broad and flexible libraries of reusable software components are valuable from a scientific, as well as practical, perspective, as they allow precise control over experimental conditions, encourage comparison of alternative methods, and allow a fuller exploration of the RL domain.     

Introduction

In the planning of a new passenger railway in Perth over many years, state agencies have actively pursued opportunities for transit-oriented development along its route. There is a strong policy framework demonstrating clear intent on the type of development required. Designing a transport system to compete with the car in an established low-density suburban environment has, however, raised some significant challenges for land-use planning. This article reports the results of research aimed at assessing changes in non-residential land use and the behavioural responses of local businesses in three emerging transit-oriented development precincts. It examines the first wave surveys of land use and businesses in 2006, the year before the railway opened, questioning the extent to which business has anticipated the new railway. The findings indicate that, despite good policy intent, planning in anticipation of the railway has been weak and insufficient attention was paid to implementation of important strategic planning principles and policies. While some land uses are compatible with transit-oriented development, these businesses employ small numbers, at odds with policies that required high trip generating development. Businesses have not shown a particularly strong interest in the new railway, their location decisions appear to reflect standard business practice rather than being influenced by opportunities created by the railway. There is a glimmer of anticipation—incoming businesses are more positive about the opportunities the railway may bring than those established in the station precincts before the 2001 railway route was announced. In particular, a significantly higher proportion of businesses in one case study station precinct are positive about opportunities created by the railway.     

Experimental behaviour of the reverse channel joint component at elevated and ambient temperatures

The reverse channel connection appears to have the best combination of desirable features under fire loading: moderate construction cost, ability to develop catenary action and extremely high ductility through deformation of the web channel (Ding and Wang, 2007). This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation of a reverse channel component conducted at the University of Coimbra as part of the European RFCS COMPFIRE Project, the main focus of which is to characterise the behaviour of steel joints that connect steel beams to concrete-filled tubular columns under natural fire loading. A series of tensile and compressive tests at ambient and elevated temperatures was conducted. The purposes of the experimental tests were to characterise the strength, stiffness and ductility of this joint component and to establish a relationship between force, displacement and temperature.     

A Microcalorimeter Using Semiconductors as the Sensing Elements

SUMMARY

Our previous work in biochemical calorimetry has been conducted with two modified versions [1, 2] of the Calvet microcalorimeter [3, 4]. The chief features of the modified versions are the use of electroplated thermocouples, reduction in overall size of the calorimeter and equilibration time, and mode of initiating the reaction.     

Identifying the Patterns of Emergency Shelter Stays of Single Individuals in Canadian Cities of Different Sizes

The study analyzed the patterns of emergency shelter stays of single persons in three Canadian cities of different sizes (i.e., Toronto, Ottawa, and Guelph). Similar to findings of previous research conducted in large American cities in the early 1990s, cluster analyses defined three clusters with distinct patterns of shelter stays (temporary, episodic, and long stay). A temporary cluster (88–94 per cent) experienced a small number of homeless episodes for relatively short periods of time. An episodic cluster (3–11 per cent) experienced multiple homeless episodes also for short periods of time. A long-stay cluster (2–4 per cent) had a relatively small number of homeless episodes but for long periods of time. Despite their relatively small size, the episodic and long-stay clusters used a disproportionately large number of total shelter beds. The study extends findings from previous American research to a Canadian context and to small- and medium-size cities. Implications of the findings for program and policy development are discussed.     

The place of neighbourhood in social cohesion: insights from massey,West Auckland

Within public health discourse there is growing recognition that the social structures and ecology of neighbourhoods impact on health and wellbeing. A clearer understanding of the pathways through which this influence occurs will inform locality-based interventions to tackle inequalities. In this paper we report on an interview based study with parents of young children living in Massey, a suburban neighbourhood of metropolitan Auckland. Locational access to community resources is comparatively poor in Massey as measured by a community resource accessibility index. The findings provide insights into the impact of such access to services and amenities on neighbourhood social cohesion. We conclude by suggesting planning strategies for strengthening neighbourhood identification and attachment for this population group.     

Design and characterization of a current sensing platform for silicon-based nanopores with integrated tunneling nanoelectrodes

Solid-state nanopores have been gaining popularity in nano-biotechnology for single molecule detection, in particular for label-free high-throughput DNA sequencing. In order to address the improvement of the resolution/speed trade-off critical in this application, here we present a new two-channel current amplifier tailored for solid-state nanopore devices with integrated tunneling electrodes. The simultaneous detection of ion and tunneling currents provides enhanced molecule tracking capability. We describe the system design starting from a detailed noise analysis and device modeling, highlighting the detrimental role of the conductive silicon substrate and of all the stray capacitive couplings between the electrodes. Given the high input capacitance (0.1–1 nF), the input voltage noise has been carefully minimized choosing a discrete couple of matched low-noise JFETs as input stage, thus achieving an equivalent input noise of 1.5 nV/√Hz (corresponding to a current noise floor of 15 fA/√Hz at 10 kHz). Low-noise performance (11 pA rms noise integrated over a 75 kHz bandwidth) is preserved at a wide bandwidth (300 kHz) and high gain (100 MΩ) thanks to the adoption of an improved integrator/differentiator cascade topology. Furthermore, along with biasing networks and selectable low-pass filters, an AC-coupled channel providing additional gain has been introduced in order to “zoom” in the current signature during pore blockade events. Together with an experimental characterization of the system (and comparison with the noise performance of other instruments), the platform is validated by demonstrating the detection of λ-DNA with 20 nm pores.     

Modeling longitudinal data from a rolling therapy group program with membership turnover: Does group culture affect individual alliance?

Many community- and hospital-based group treatment programs have an open enrolment, that is, a rolling admissions structure, in which a group member who drops out or successfully completes therapy is replaced by another individual. Although practically efficient and perhaps clinically useful, the interdependence of these group participants' data may result in incorrect inferences drawn from the data analyses if this interdependence is not accounted for. We present an analytic strategy that uses time varying covariates in multilevel models to illustrate a methodology to address these data analysis problems. Participants were adults with eating disorders (N = 229) who attended an average of 12 weeks of a rolling admissions group-based day hospital program during an 8-year period, and who completed a group therapy alliance measure weekly. Individual alliance to the group increased from week to week, and this growth remained significant even after controlling for the time varying level of other group members' alliance to the group. Further, the level of an individual's alliance score during any given week was positively related to the group's alliance during that week. The multilevel time varying covariate models presented here add to a very small but emerging set of analytic strategies available for researchers to address some of the hurdles to correctly analyze data from rolling admissions group-based treatment programs. Results from this study provide evidence that a group's culture is passed on and affects an individual's alliance to the group despite changes in group membership. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)