Can smartphone users turn off tracking service settings?

Tracking services play a fundamental role in the smartphone ecosystem. While their primary purpose is to provide a smartphone user with the ability to regulate the extent of sharing private information with external parties, these services can also be misused by advertisers in order to boost revenues. In this paper, we investigate tracking services on the Android and iOS smartphone platforms. We present a simple and effective way to monitor traffic generated by tracking services to and from the smartphone and external servers. To evaluate our work, we dynamically execute a set of Android and iOS applications, collected from their respective official markets. Our empirical results indicate that even if the user disables or limits tracking services on the smartphone, applications can by-pass those settings and, consequently, leak private information to external parties. On the other hand, when testing the location 'on' setting, we notice that generally location is not tracked.

Take your shoes off to reduce patellofemoral joint stress during running

Elevated patellofemoral joint stress is thought to contribute to the development and progression of patellofemoral pain syndrome. The purpose of this study was to determine if running barefoot decreases patellofemoral joint stress in comparison to shod running. Running barefoot decreased peak patellofemoral joint stress by 12% (p=0.000) in comparison to shod running. The reduction in patellofemoral joint stress was a result of reduced patellofemoral joint reaction forces (12%, p=0.000) while running barefoot.

Embracing off-site innovation in construction in China to enhance a sustainable built environment in urban housing

With the rapid rate of urbanization and pressing need for higher levels of sustainable development within the built environment in China, the housing construction industry presently is facing urgency of shaping a sustainable construction process. This paper examines several sustainability challenges from the large-scale urban housing construction, and explores the connection between off-site innovation and sustainability within a context of China's housing construction industry. The study also identifies four pillars of strategy agendas that could enhance an enabling innovation environment for the ultimate goal of sustainability: (1) institutional environment, (2) public housing market, (3) organisational actions and (4) technological capacity. The knowledge and research findings presented in this paper would provide a ground framework that helps evaluate and assess the significances of off-site innovation to assist with a sustainable built environment.

Recommendation techniques based on off-line data processing: a multifaceted survey

Recommendations based on off-line data processing has attracted increasing attention from both research communities and IT industries. The recommendation techniques could be used to explore huge volumes of data, identify the items that users probably like, and translate the research results into real-world applications, etc. This paper surveys the recent progress in the research of recommendations based on off-line data processing, with emphasis on new techniques (such as context-based recommendation, temporal recommendation), and new features (such as serendipitous recommendation). Finally, we outline some existing challenges for future research.

The influence of cover on nesting Red-capped Plovers: a trade-off between thermoregulation and predation risk?

 Some ground-nesting birds adopt a mixed strategy of nesting in the open, or under cover (e.g. vegetation). This may represent a trade-off between thermally favourable nest sites (covered) and those that enable the early detection and avoidance of predators (open). This study examined whether such a trade-off exists for Redcapped Plover Charadrius ruficapillus, whose eggs are preyed upon principally by Little Raven Corvus mellori. For real and artificial nests, nest temperatures under cover (real, 25.9 ± 0.1°C; false, 16.2 ± 0.5°C) were cooler than those in the open (real, 26.8 ± 0.1°C; false, 17.4 ± 0.9°C). Covered nests had more visual obstructions than open nests (covered, 65.5% ± 11.4%; open, 7.4% ± 2.8%) and a standardised measure of incubator escape distance, initiated by experimental human approaches, indicated incubators fled open nests at longer distances than for covered nests. Nests under cover showed a slightly (non-significant) higher probability of surviving one day (Daily Survival Rate [DSR] = 0.978) than those in the open (DSR = 0.950). For false nests containing model eggs, covered nests exhibited better survival to 10 days compared with open nests (20.4% vs. 4.7%). Thus, covered nests are associated with enhanced thermal environments and egg survival, but predators can approach the incubator more closely. Overall, the proposed trade-off between thermal and predation risks associated with nest sites appears to exist and explains the ongoing occurrence of nests in open and covered locations.

Keep watch : your kids would be worse off without the ABC

Part of a series commissioned by The Conversation to explore the implications of proposed Coalition budget cuts to the ABC

Modeling of shear ductile fracture considering a changeable cut-off value for stress triaxiality

 A macroscopic ductile fracture criterion is proposed based on micro-mechanism analysis of nucleation, growth and shear coalescence of voids from experimental observation of fracture surfaces. The proposed ductile fracture model endows a changeable cut-off value for the stress triaxiality to represent effect of micro-structures, the Lode parameter, temperature, and strain rate on ductility of metals. The proposed model is used to construct fracture loci of AA 2024- T351. The constructed fracture loci are compared with experimental data covering wide stress triaxiality ranging between –0.5 and 1.0. The comparison suggests that the proposed model can provide a satisfactory prediction of ductile fracture for metals from compressive upsetting tests to plane strain tension with slanted fracture surfaces. Moreover, it is expected that the proposed model reasonably describes ductile fracture behavior in high velocity perforation simulation since a reasonable cut-off value for the stress triaxiality is coupled with the proposed ductile fracture criterion.

Off-line two-dimensional liquid chromatography for metabolomics: an example using Agaricus bisporus mushrooms exposed to UV irradiation

It has previously been shown that irradiation with UV light increases the vitamin D content of certain mushroom species, but the effect on other nutrients is unknown, and is difficult to assess due to the complexity of the sample matrix. Here, an offline reversed phase × reversed phase two-dimensional liquid chromatography methodology was developed and applied to Agaricus bisporus mushrooms in order to demonstrate the potential of the technique and assess the effect of UV irradiation on the mushroom’s metabolic profile. The method allowed the detection of 158 peaks in a single analytical run. A total of 51 compounds including sugars, amino acids, organic and fatty acids and phenolic compounds were identified using certified reference standards. After irradiation of the mushrooms with UV for 30 s the number of peaks detected decreased from 158 to 150; 47 compounds increased in concentration while 72 substances decreased. This is the first time that two-dimensional liquid chromatography has been carried out for the metabolomic analysis of mushrooms. The data provide an overview of the gain/loss of nutritional value of the mushrooms following UV irradiation and demonstrate that the increased peak capacity and separation space of two-dimensional liquid chromatography has great potential in metabolomics.

Q-fever and Australian farmers: is the health system paying enough attention? A literature review

Introduction: Q-fever is caused by Coxiella burnetii, a Gram-negative bacterium and Rickettsia-like organism. Transmitted from wild and domestic animals to humans, the most common route is inhalation of contaminated dust; however the oral route can be considered as a second pathway. Aim: to understand the reasons behind not including farming workforce and their families in the national vaccinations program. Discussion: In 1977 Q-fever became a notifiable disease nationally. Australia is the only country to have a registered Q-fever vaccine. As a result of the cost of the vaccine, Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) supply and subsidised program arrangements are based on the active cases count per year (by occupation), rather than for occupations that expose workers to high level of possible "risk". Conclusion: Australian farmers, farm managers, farm workers and their families need to be well educated about Q-fever and included in the national vaccination program.