Audit report on the Wireless E911 Emergency Communications Fund of the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division of the Iowa Department of Public Defense for the year ended June 30, 2013

Audit report on the Wireless E911 Emergency Communications Fund of the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division of the Iowa Department of Public Defense for the year ended June 30, 2013

Consumer Advisory: The Drive to Destroy: Removing data from computer hard drives, storage devices & wireless phones, June 2014

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: The Drive to Destroy: Removing data from computer hard drives, storage devices & wireless phones

Infarctus myocardique aigu: importance du "networking" dans la prise en charge initiate [Acute myocardial infarction: importance of the networking in the initial management].

Early reperfusion with prompt re-establishment of coronary blood flow improves survival in patients suffering from acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Leaving systemic thrombolysis for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is justified by clinical results in favor of PCI. Nevertheless, primary PCI necessitates additional transfer time and requires an efficient territorial networking. The present article summarizes the up-to-dated management of patients with acute STEMI and/or overt cardiogenic shock.

Audit report on the Wireless E911 Emergency Communications Fund of the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for the year ended June 30, 2014

Audit report on the Wireless E911 Emergency Communications Fund of the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for the year ended June 30, 2014

Networking of differentially expressed genes in human cancer cells resistant to methotrexate

BACKGROUND: The need for an integrated view of data obtained from high-throughput technologies gave rise to network analyses. These are especially useful to rationalize how external perturbations propagate through the expression of genes. To address this issue in the case of drug resistance, we constructed biological association networks of genes differentially expressed in cell lines resistant to methotrexate (MTX). METHODS: Seven cell lines representative of different types of cancer, including colon cancer (HT29 and Caco2), breast cancer (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468), pancreatic cancer (MIA PaCa-2), erythroblastic leukemia (K562) and osteosarcoma (Saos-2), were used. The differential expression pattern between sensitive and MTX-resistant cells was determined by whole human genome microarrays and analyzed with the GeneSpring GX software package. Genes deregulated in common between the different cancer cell lines served to generate biological association networks using the Pathway Architect software. RESULTS: Dikkopf homolog-1 (DKK1) is a highly interconnected node in the network generated with genes in common between the two colon cancer cell lines, and functional validations of this target using small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) showed a chemosensitization toward MTX. Members of the UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A (UGT1A) family formed a network of genes differentially expressed in the two breast cancer cell lines. siRNA treatment against UGT1A also showed an increase in MTX sensitivity. Eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 alpha 1 (EEF1A1) was overexpressed among the pancreatic cancer, leukemia and osteosarcoma cell lines, and siRNA treatment against EEF1A1 produced a chemosensitization toward MTX. CONCLUSIONS: Biological association networks identified DKK1, UGT1As and EEF1A1 as important gene nodes in MTX-resistance. Treatments using siRNA technology against these three genes showed chemosensitization toward MTX.

Wireless Sensor Networks for Infrastructure Monitoring, TR-611, 2010

A good system of preventive bridge maintenance enhances the ability of engineers to manage and monitor bridge conditions, and take proper action at the right time. Traditionally infrastructure inspection is performed via infrequent periodical visual inspection in the field. Wireless sensor technology provides an alternative cost-effective approach for constant monitoring of infrastructures. Scientific data-acquisition systems make reliable structural measurements, even in inaccessible and harsh environments by using wireless sensors. With advances in sensor technology and availability of low cost integrated circuits, a wireless monitoring sensor network has been considered to be the new generation technology for structural health monitoring. The main goal of this project was to implement a wireless sensor network for monitoring the behavior and integrity of highway bridges. At the core of the system is a low-cost, low power wireless strain sensor node whose hardware design is optimized for structural monitoring applications. The key components of the systems are the control unit, sensors, software and communication capability. The extensive information developed for each of these areas has been used to design the system. The performance and reliability of the proposed wireless monitoring system is validated on a 34 feet span composite beam in slab bridge in Black Hawk County, Iowa. The micro strain data is successfully extracted from output-only response collected by the wireless monitoring system. The energy efficiency of the system was investigated to estimate the battery lifetime of the wireless sensor nodes. This report also documents system design, the method used for data acquisition, and system validation and field testing. Recommendations on further implementation of wireless sensor networks for long term monitoring are provided.

Science 2.0 : The use of social networking in research.

REBIUN study on Science 2.0 and social web applications for research. There are three categories: share research, share resources and share results. Describes the applications and selected resources of interest: scientific social networks, scientific databases, research platforms, surveys, concept maps, file sharing, bibliographic management, social bookmarking, citation indexes, blogs and wikis, science news, open access. The services are evaluated and the report describes his interest to libraries.

Extending Learning Objects by Means of Social Networking

Learning objects have been the promise of providing people with high quality learning resources. Initiatives such as MIT Open-CourseWare, MERLOT and others have shown the real possibilities of creating and sharing knowledge through Internet. Thousands of educational resources are available through learning object repositories. We indeed live in an age of content abundance, and content can be considered as infrastructure for building adaptive and personalized learning paths, promoting both formal and informal learning. Nevertheless, although most educational institutions are adopting a more open approach, publishing huge amounts of educational resources, the reality is that these resources are barely used in other educational contexts. This paradox can be partly explained by the dificulties in adapting such resources with respect to language, e-learning standards and specifications and, finally, granularity. Furthermore, if we want our learners to use and take advantage of learning object repositories, we need to provide them with additional services than just browsing and searching for resources. Social networks can be a first step towards creating an open social community of learning around a topic or a subject. In this paper we discuss and analyze the process of using a learning object repository and building a social network on the top of it, with respect to the information architecture needed to capture and store the interaction between learners and resources in form of learning object metadata.

Wireless capsule pH monitoring: does it fulfil all expectations?

pH monitoring has been used as a diagnostic tool in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) for many years. Recent studies have shown that wireless capsule pH monitoring is better tolerated and interferes less with daily activities as compared to traditional catheter-based pH monitoring. Moreover, prolonged recording time (48 h instead of 24 h) is possible with wireless pH monitoring. The main secondary effect of wireless capsule pH monitoring is induction of thoracic discomfort in 10-65% of the patients, which can vary from mild foreign body sensation to severe chest pain. Sensitivity and specificity of wireless capsule monitoring is comparable to that of traditional pH monitoring. It has not been proven yet that better tolerability and a longer recording time increases the diagnostic yield of wireless capsule monitoring in GERD.

Networking of differentially expressed genes in human cancer cells resistant to methotrexate

BACKGROUND: The need for an integrated view of data obtained from high-throughput technologies gave rise to network analyses. These are especially useful to rationalize how external perturbations propagate through the expression of genes. To address this issue in the case of drug resistance, we constructed biological association networks of genes differentially expressed in cell lines resistant to methotrexate (MTX). METHODS: Seven cell lines representative of different types of cancer, including colon cancer (HT29 and Caco2), breast cancer (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468), pancreatic cancer (MIA PaCa-2), erythroblastic leukemia (K562) and osteosarcoma (Saos-2), were used. The differential expression pattern between sensitive and MTX-resistant cells was determined by whole human genome microarrays and analyzed with the GeneSpring GX software package. Genes deregulated in common between the different cancer cell lines served to generate biological association networks using the Pathway Architect software. RESULTS: Dikkopf homolog-1 (DKK1) is a highly interconnected node in the network generated with genes in common between the two colon cancer cell lines, and functional validations of this target using small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) showed a chemosensitization toward MTX. Members of the UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A (UGT1A) family formed a network of genes differentially expressed in the two breast cancer cell lines. siRNA treatment against UGT1A also showed an increase in MTX sensitivity. Eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 alpha 1 (EEF1A1) was overexpressed among the pancreatic cancer, leukemia and osteosarcoma cell lines, and siRNA treatment against EEF1A1 produced a chemosensitization toward MTX. CONCLUSIONS: Biological association networks identified DKK1, UGT1As and EEF1A1 as important gene nodes in MTX-resistance. Treatments using siRNA technology against these three genes showed chemosensitization toward MTX.

Simulació de xarxes WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) per a la detecció d'incendis

Trabajo de final de carrera enfocado a la simulación de una WSN (Wireless Sensors Networks) mediante el programa Contiki 2.7 y el SO Ubuntu. La idea global del proyecto es conseguir simular un entorno con nodos sensores y, a posteriori, comprobar su correcto funcionamiento en motas reales, comprobando los resultados obtenidos en ambos entornos. De esta manera se puede facilitar la puesta en marcha de este tipo de redes inalámbricas en una aplicación real.

WiBed, A Platform for Commodity Wireless Testbeds

Testbeds are a stage between the simulation and the production stages. To this end they must be as close as possible to production environments (i.e. real hardware, on the field deployments) while also keeping the traits of experimentation facilities (i.e. fault tolerance, ease of deployment, testing and data collection). This paper presents WiBed, a FOSS platform for WiFi testbeds based on OpenWRT Linux made to run oncommodity IEEE802.11 WiFi routers part of the Community-lab.net project, a global testbed for Community networks. WiBedhas been designed to support realistic low layer network exper-iments (according to the OSI model). This work recolects thedetails of the architecture, design and implementation of WiBed consolidated during its operation as a testbed. In addition to a set of routing experimentation results obtained during the Wireless Battlemesh v7 where WiBed was used as testbed platform.

MANAGING STRATEGIC CHANGE:New Business Models Applying Wireless Technology as a Source of Competitive Edge

The diffusion of mobile telephony began in 1971 in Finland, when the first car phones, called ARP1 were taken to use. Technologies changed from ARP to NMT and later to GSM. The main application of the technology, however, was voice transfer. The birth of the Internet created an open public data network and easy access to other types of computer-based services over networks. Telephones had been used as modems, but the development of the cellular technologies enabled automatic access from mobile phones to Internet. Also other wireless technologies, for instance Wireless LANs, were also introduced. Telephony had developed from analog to digital in fixed networks and allowed easy integration of fixed and mobile networks. This development opened a completely new functionality to computers and mobile phones. It also initiated the merger of the information technology (IT) and telecommunication (TC) industries. Despite the arising opportunity for firms' new competition the applications based on the new functionality were rare. Furthermore, technology development combined with innovation can be disruptive to industries. This research focuses on the new technology's impact on competition in the ICT industry through understanding the strategic needs and alternative futures of the industry's customers. The change speed inthe ICT industry is high and therefore it was valuable to integrate the DynamicCapability view of the firm in this research. Dynamic capabilities are an application of the Resource-Based View (RBV) of the firm. As is stated in the literature, strategic positioning complements RBV. This theoretical framework leads theresearch to focus on three areas: customer strategic innovation and business model development, external future analysis, and process development combining these two. The theoretical contribution of the research is in the development of methodology integrating theories of the RBV, dynamic capabilities and strategic positioning. The research approach has been constructive due to the actual managerial problems initiating the study. The requirement for iterative and innovative progress in the research supported the chosen research approach. The study applies known methods in product development, for instance, innovation process in theGroup Decision Support Systems (GDSS) laboratory and Quality Function Deployment (QFD), and combines them with known strategy analysis tools like industry analysis and scenario method. As the main result, the thesis presents the strategic innovation process, where new business concepts are used to describe the alternative resource configurations and scenarios as alternative competitive environments, which can be a new way for firms to achieve competitive advantage in high-velocity markets. In addition to the strategic innovation process as a result, thestudy has also resulted in approximately 250 new innovations for the participating firms, reduced technology uncertainty and helped strategic infrastructural decisions in the firms, and produced a knowledge-bank including data from 43 ICT and 19 paper industry firms between the years 1999 - 2004. The methods presentedin this research are also applicable to other industries.

Secure many-to-one communications in wireless sensor networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are formed by nodes with limited computational and power resources. WSNs are finding an increasing number of applications, both civilian and military, most of which require security for the sensed data being collected by the base station from remote sensor nodes. In addition, when many sensor nodes transmit to the base station, the implosion problem arises. Providing security measures and implosion-resistance in a resource-limited environment is a real challenge. This article reviews the aggregation strategies proposed in the literature to handle the bandwidth and security problems related to many-to-one transmission in WSNs. Recent contributions to secure lossless many-to-one communication developed by the authors in the context of several Spanish-funded projects are surveyed. Ongoing work on the secure lossy many-to-one communication is also sketched.