Development Trends of Key Technologies for IPTV Systems

Fast growing IPTV services have become a major concern in China’s information industry. However,the IPTV service model has not been perfected yet after long-time trial made in a couple of Chinese cities. Selecting optimum technologies for IPTV is difficult to solve in the short term. So far most trial IPTV services in China are designed to provide a small number of local viewers with television and recorded programs. Accordingly,the technology used for the available IPTV services can hardly become a paradigm for future IPTV technology development. Therefore,with the ultimate goal of constructing a countrywide IPTV service network that can meet the requirements of commercial operation,it is necessary to conduct research into the design of countrywide IPTV network architecture,improvement of the bearer network,selection of video encoding technology,terminal structure,building of the Content Distribution Network (CDN),establishment of the open Digital Rights Management (DRM) platform,and construction of Media Asset Management (MAM) system.

Design and Performance Analysis of Micro Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

This study describes a novel micro proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC)(active area,2.5 cm2).The flow field plate is manufactured by applying micro-electromechanical systems(MEMS) technology to silicon substrates to etch flow channels without a gold-coating.Therefore,this investigation used MEMS technology for fabrication of a flow field plate and presents a novel fabrication procedure.Various operating parameters,such as fuel temperature and fuel stoichiometric flow rate,are tested to optimize micro PEMFC performance.A single micro PEMFC using MEMS technology reveals the ideal performance of the proposed fuel cell.The optimal power density approaches 232.75 mW·cm-1 when the fuel cell is operated at ambient condition with humidified,heated fuel.

A case for systemic environmental analysis of cultured meat

The environmental implications of cultured meat are profound. An anticipatory life cycle assessment of cultured meat published in 2011 suggested it could have a smaller impact than agricultural meat in all categories except energy consumption. As with most technologies, cultured meat will almost certainly be accompanied by unintended consequences as well as unforeseen costs and benefits that accrue disproportionately to different stakeholders. Uncertainty associated with new engineered products cannot be completely eliminated prior to introduction, but ongoing environmental assessments of the technologies as they advance can serve to reduce unforeseen risks. Given the pace at which tissue engineering is advancing, systemic assessments of the technology will be pivotal in mitigating unintended environmental consequences.

Application of Geographic Information Systems in Studying the Relationship between Stock Routes Changes with Water and Pasture Availability for Livestock under a Changing Climate Conditions： A Case of Ilemela and Magu Districts in Mwanza Region-Lake Victoria Basin, Tanzania

Beef cattle production is declining in the areas surrounding LVB （Lake Victoria Basin） due to many factors among which is the climate change. This study was focused on generating spatial knowledge that will be useful in designing appropriate strategies for improving beef cattle production on rangelands of the LVB, through assessing changes in stock routes in relation to water and pasture availability for livestock under a changing climate. The study used participatory mapping and focused group discussions to assess spatial changes of stock routes in relation to water availability and pasture under critical climate changes. Also, GIS （Geographic Information Systems） technologies were deployed in formalization of spatial layers for integration with other pertinent datasets to the facilitate analysis. The study revealed remarkable stock routes changes （i.e. some have been lost, some have been converted into roads, while others have been lost and others narrowed influencing conflicts between pastorists and farmers. The stock routes changes are made by the increased human population which has led to an increase of cultivated areas and subsequently the decline of water sources and grazing land for pastorists. It is recommended that there should be effective land use planning practice, real-time stock route modification concomitant with adverse climate changes and cattle farming practice. Intervention by other mitigation measures particuticularly rainwater harvesting which is a strategy for alleviation of climate change effects for improving beef cattle production in LVB areas is proposed.

STRATEGIC EXERCISE OF REAL OPTIONS:INVESTMENT DECISIONS IN TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

Viewing investment projects in new technologies as real options, this paper studies the effects of endogenous competition and asymmetric information on the strategic exercise of real options. We first develop a multi-period, game-theoretic model and show how competition leads to early exercise and aggressive investment behaviors and how competition erodes option values. We then relax the typical full-information assumption found in the literature and allow information asymmetry to exist across firms. Our model shows, in contrast to the literature that payoff is independent of the ordering of exercise, that the sequential exercise of real options may generate both informational and payoff externalities. We also find some surprising but interesting results such as having more information is not necessarily better.

New Approach for Information Security Evaluation and Management of IT Systems in Educational Institutions

Security evaluation and management has become increasingly important for Web-based information technology(IT)systems,especially for educational institutions.For the security evaluation and management of IT systems in educational institutions,determining the security level for a single IT system has been well developed.However,it is still dificult to evaluate the information security level of the entire educational institution consid-ering multiple IT systems,because there might be too many different IT systems in one institution,educational institutions can be very different,and there is no standard model or method to provide a just ifable information security evaluation among different educational inst itutions considering their differences.In light of these difi-culties,a security evaluation model of educational institutions'IT systems(SEMEIS)is proposed in this work to facilitate the information security management for the educat ional institutions.Firstly,a simplified educational industry information system security level protection rating(EIISSLPR)with a new weight redistribution strategy for a single IT systern is proposed by choosing important evaluation questions from EIISSLPR and redistributing the weights of these questions.Then for the entire educational institution,analytic hierarchy process(AHP)is used to redistribute the weights of multiple IT systems at different security levels.considering the risk of pos-sible network security vulnerabilities,a risk index is forulated by weighting different factors,normalized by a utility function,and calculated with the real data collected from the institutions under the evaluation.Finally,the information security performance of educational institutions is obtained as the final score from SEMEIS.The results show that SEMEIS can evaluate the security level of the educat ion institutions practically and provide an efficient and effective management tool for the information security management.

Call for Papers 2012 IEEE Multi-conference on Systems and Control （IEEE MSC 2012）

The 2012 IEEE Multi-Conference on Systems and Control （MSC 2012） will take place in Dubrovnik Palace Hotel, Dubrovnik, Croatia, on October 3 - 5, 2012. MSC 2012 includes two international con- ferences sponsored and promoted by the IEEE Control Systems Society：

Research and application of the virtual simulation system teaching method in NC machining course

Virtual simulation technology has become one of the most popular technologies in the field of engineering education after the multimedia information technology in recent years.This paper,based on the comprehensive integrated simulation and verification module of UG NX software,describes and discusses a novel virtual simulation system teaching(VSST)for numerically controlled machining to support the student engineering training to achieve the theoretical knowledge and practical techniques in numerically controlled machining.The findings of a study designed to evaluate the impact of VSST for the development of numerically controlled machining course are presented here.In addition,analysis of the follow-up surveys indicates that the VSST method enables to provide the concrete experience of interaction between the students and the simulation environment and to further stimulate students’interest in learning,so that the students who used VSST achieve significantly higher results than their co-workers.

ANFIS-based Sensor Fusion System of Sit-to-stand for Elderly People Assistive Device Protocols

This paper describes the analysis and design of an assistive device for elderly people under development at the EgyptJapan University of Science and Technology（E-JUST） named E-JUST assistive device（EJAD）.Several experiments were carried out using a motion capture system（VICON） and inertial sensors to identify the human posture during the sit-to-stand motion.The EJAD uses only two inertial measurement units（IMUs） fused through an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems（ANFIS） algorithm to imitate the real motion of the caregiver.The EJAD consists of two main parts,a robot arm and an active walker.The robot arm is a 2-degree-of-freedom（2-DOF） planar manipulator.In addition,a back support with a passive joint is used to support the patient s back.The IMUs on the leg and trunk of the patient are used to compensate for and adapt to the EJAD system motion depending on the obtained patient posture.The ANFIS algorithm is used to train the fuzzy system that converts the IMUs signals to the right posture of the patient.A control scheme is proposed to control the system motion based on practical measurements taken from the experiments.A computer simulation showed a relatively good performance of the EJAD in assisting the patient.

Differentiation and dynamism within the IT development program

Information technology(IT)developments of large magnitude organize as collections of multiple projects into a single program,especially under dynamic conditions of market uncertainty that frequently change requirements or solutions midstream.Successful completion of an IT development program requires that the multiple teams work effec-tively together as well as independently in response to changes by relying on the differ-entiation of talent and knowledge available to the program manager.We consider and empirically support a model derived from principles in the multi-team systems(MTS)literature to determine the influence of differentiation among the IT program in the sharing of knowledge and information.The relationship from differentiation to program success is mediated by knowledge and information sharing,showing how to manage change through the dissemination of information and knowledge.Uncertainty of the market positively moderates the relation from differentiation among projects to infor-mation sharing.These findings contribute to the literature by empirically validating that MTS frameworks are exceptionally well suited for dealing with complex environments in the context of IT development.