| Future Internet, Vol. 4, Pages 1-21: The Street Network Evolution of Crowdsourced Maps: OpenStreetMap in Germany 2007–2011 Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:00 AM PST The OpenStreetMap (OSM) project is a prime example in the field of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI). Worldwide, several hundred thousand people are currently contributing information to the "free" geodatabase. However, the data contributions show a geographically heterogeneous pattern around the globe. Germany counts as one of the most active countries in OSM; thus, the German street network has undergone an extensive development in recent years. The question that remains is this: How does the street network perform in a relative comparison with a commercial dataset? By means of a variety of studies, we show that the difference between the OSM street network for car navigation in Germany and a comparable proprietary dataset was only 9% in June 2011. The results of our analysis regarding the entire street network showed that OSM even exceeds the information provided by the proprietary dataset by 27%. Further analyses show on what scale errors can be reckoned with in the topology of the street network, and the completeness of turn restrictions and street name information. In addition to the analyses conducted over the past few years, projections have additionally been made about the point in time by which the OSM dataset for Germany can be considered "complete" in relative comparison to a commercial dataset. |
| Online poker may be legal: Deal me in Posted: 29 Dec 2011 02:41 AM PST Good news is on the horizon for the millions of Americans who would like to resume playing online poker. |
| Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 Ken Balough Interview Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:00 AM PST |
| IJERPH, Vol. 9, Pages 44-54: Self-Reported Dental Fear among Dental Students and Their Patients Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:00 AM PST The aim of the present study was to compare self-reported dental fear among dental students and patients at a School of Dentistry in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Eighty students ranging in age from 20 to 29 years and 80 patients ranging in age from 18 to 65 years participated in the study. A self-administered pre-tested questionnaire consisting of 13 items was used for data acquisition. The city of Belo Horizonte Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) was employed for socioeconomic classification. The chi-square test and binary and multinomial logistic regression were employed in the statistical analysis, with the significance level set at 0.05. The majority of dental students (76.5%) sought the dentist for the first time for a routine exam, while patients (77.3%) mostly sought a dentist for the treatment of dental pain. Dental fear was more prevalent among the patients (72.5%) than the students (27.5%). A total of 47.1% of the students and 52.9% of the patients reported having had negative dental experiences in childhood. The logistic model revealed an association between dental fear and a pain-related experience (OR: 1.8; 95%CI: 1.3–2.6). Patients were more prone to dental fear (OR: 2.2; 95%CI: 1.0–5.0). Although at different percentages, both students and patients experienced dental fear. Current patient with previous experience of dental pain had more dental fear. |
| IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 466-476: Fungus-Mediated Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Aspergillus terreus Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:00 AM PST The biosynthesis of nanoparticles has received increasing attention due to the growing need to develop safe, cost-effective and environmentally friendly technologies for nano-materials synthesis. In this report, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized using a reduction of aqueous Ag+ ion with the culture supernatants of Aspergillus terreus. The reaction occurred at ambient temperature and in a few hours. The bioreduction of AgNPs was monitored by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and the AgNPs obtained were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The synthesized AgNPs were polydispersed spherical particles ranging in size from 1 to 20 nm and stabilized in the solution. Reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) was found to be an important reducing agent for the biosynthesis, and the formation of AgNPs might be an enzyme-mediated extracellular reaction process. Furthermore, the antimicrobial potential of AgNPs was systematically evaluated. The synthesized AgNPs could efficiently inhibit various pathogenic organisms, including bacteria and fungi. The current research opens a new avenue for the green synthesis of nano-materials. |
| Sustainability, Vol. 4, Pages 72-91: On a Vision to Educating Students in Sustainability and Design—The James Madison University School of Engineering Approach Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:00 AM PST In order for our future engineers to be able to work toward a sustainable future, they must be versed not only in sustainable engineering but also in engineering design. An engineering education must train our future engineers to think flexibly and to be adaptive, as it is unlikely that their future will have them working in one domain. They must, instead, be versatilists. The School of Engineering at James Madison University has been developed from the ground up to provide this engineering training with an emphasis on engineering design, systems thinking, and sustainability. Neither design nor sustainability are mutually exclusive, and consequently, an education focusing on design and sustainability must integrate these topics, teaching students to follow a sustainable design process. This is the goal of the James Madison University School of Engineering. In this paper, we present our approach to curricular integration of design and sustainability as well as the pedagogical approaches used throughout the curriculum. We do not mean to present the School's model as an all or nothing approach consisting of dependent elements, but instead as a collection of independent approaches, of which one or more may be appropriate at another university. |
| IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 453-465: Force Measurement Enabling Precise Analysis by Dynamic Force Spectroscopy Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:00 AM PST Dynamic force spectroscopy (DFS) makes it possible to investigate specific interactions between two molecules such as ligand-receptor pairs at the single-molecule level. In the DFS method based on the Bell-Evans model, the unbinding force applied to a molecular bond is increased at a constant rate, and the force required to rupture the molecular bond is measured. By analyzing the relationship between the modal rupture force and the logarithm of the loading rate, microscopic potential barrier landscapes and the lifetimes of bonds can be obtained. However, the results obtained, for example, in the case of streptavidin/biotin complexes, have differed among previous studies and some results have been inconsistent with theoretical predictions. In this study, using an atomic force microscopy technique that enables the precise analysis of molecular interactions on the basis of DFS, we investigated the effect of the sampling rate on DFS analysis. The shape of rupture force histograms, for example, was significantly deformed at a sampling rate of 1 kHz in comparison with that of histograms obtained at 100 kHz, indicating the fundamental importance of ensuring suitable experimental conditions for further advances in the DFS method. |
| NVIDIA Linux Display Driver 290.10 (updated) Posted: 29 Dec 2011 02:15 AM PST |
| Dismantlement: Box Lunch 2 Posted: 29 Dec 2011 02:41 AM PST [Platform: Flash] It's a truth universally acknowledged that a single lunch in possession of a good screwdriver must be in want of a sequel. So it is with Dismantlement: Box Lunch 2, the perfectly explosive follow up to the first box lunch dismantlement surprise. As with the first, this Dismantlement is on the easy side yet still likely to cause more than a few "face palm" moments amongst its players out there. Nevertheless, it is an irresistibly satisfying bite-sized bit of a point-and-click fun. Dig in and enjoy! |
| Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 320-333: Ceramic MEMS Designed for Wireless Pressure Monitoring in the Industrial Environment Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:00 AM PST This paper presents the design of a wireless pressure-monitoring system for harsh-environment applications. Two types of ceramic pressure sensors made with a low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) were considered. The first type is a piezoresistive strain gauge pressure sensor. The second type is a capacitive pressure sensor, which is based on changes of the capacitance values between two electrodes: one electrode is fixed and the other is movable under an applied pressure. The design was primarily focused on low power consumption. Reliable operation in the presence of disturbances, like electromagnetic interference, parasitic capacitances, etc., proved to be contradictory constraints. A piezoresistive ceramic pressure sensor with a high bridge impedance was chosen for use in a wireless pressure-monitoring system and an acceptable solution using energy-harvesting techniques has been achieved. The described solution allows for the integration of a sensor element with an energy harvester that has a printed thick-film battery and complete electronics in a single substrate packaged inside a compact housing. |
| IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 427-452: Adaptation of High-Throughput Screening in Drug Discovery—Toxicological Screening Tests Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:00 AM PST High-throughput screening (HTS) is one of the newest techniques used in drug design and may be applied in biological and chemical sciences. This method, due to utilization of robots, detectors and software that regulate the whole process, enables a series of analyses of chemical compounds to be conducted in a short time and the affinity of biological structures which is often related to toxicity to be defined. Since 2008 we have implemented the automation of this technique and as a consequence, the possibility to examine 100,000 compounds per day. The HTS method is more frequently utilized in conjunction with analytical techniques such as NMR or coupled methods e.g., LC-MS/MS. Series of studies enable the establishment of the rate of affinity for targets or the level of toxicity. Moreover, researches are conducted concerning conjugation of nanoparticles with drugs and the determination of the toxicity of such structures. For these purposes there are frequently used cell lines. Due to the miniaturization of all systems, it is possible to examine the compound's toxicity having only 1–3 mg of this compound. Determination of cytotoxicity in this way leads to a significant decrease in the expenditure and to a reduction in the length of the study. |
| IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 409-426: In Vitro Antioxidant, Anticoagulant and Antimicrobial Activity and in Inhibition of Cancer Cell Proliferation by Xylan Extracted from Corn Cobs Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:00 AM PST Xylan is one of most abundant polymer after cellulose. However, its potential has yet to be completely recognized. Corn cobs contain a considerable reservoir of xylan. The aim of this work was to study some of the biological activities of xylan obtained from corn cobs after alkaline extraction enhanced by ultrasonication. Physical chemistry and infrared analyses showed 130 kDa heteroxylan containing mainly xylose:arabinose: galactose:glucose (5.0:1.5:2.0:1.2). Xylan obtained exhibited total antioxidant activity corresponding to 48.5 mg of ascorbic acid equivalent/g of xylan. Furthermore, xylan displayed high ferric chelating activity (70%) at 2 mg/mL. Xylan also showed anticoagulant activity in aPTT test. In antimicrobial assay, the polysaccharide significantly inhibited bacterial growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae. In a test with normal and tumor human cells, after 72 h, only HeLa tumor cell proliferation was inhibited (p < 0.05) in a dose-dependent manner by xylan, reaching saturation at around 2 mg/mL, whereas 3T3 normal cell proliferation was not affected. The results suggest that it has potential clinical applications as antioxidant, anticoagulant, antimicrobial and antiproliferative compounds. |
| IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 393-408: Involvement of Nitrogen on Flavonoids, Glutathione, Anthocyanin, Ascorbic Acid and Antioxidant Activities of Malaysian Medicinal Plant Labisia pumila Blume (Kacip Fatimah) Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:00 AM PST A split plot 3 by 4 experiment was designed to characterize the relationship between production of gluthatione (GSH), oxidized gluthatione (GSSG), total flavonoid, anthocyanin, ascorbic acid and antioxidant activities (FRAP and DPPH) in three varieties of Labisia pumila Blume, namely the varieties alata, pumila and lanceolata, under four levels of nitrogen fertilization (0, 90, 180 and 270 kg N/ha) for 15 weeks. The treatment effects were solely contributed by nitrogen application; there was neither varietal nor interaction effects observed. As the nitrogen levels decreased from 270 to 0 kg N/ha, the production of GSH and GSSG, anthocyanin, total flavonoid and ascorbic acid increased steadily. At the highest nitrogen treatment level, L. pumila exhibited significantly lower antioxidant activities (DPPH and FRAP) than those exposed to limited nitrogen growing conditions. Significant positive correlation was obtained between antioxidant activities (DPPH and FRAP), total flavonoid, GSH, GSSG, anthocyanin and ascorbic acid suggesting that an increase in the antioxidative activities in L. pumila under low nitrogen fertilization could be attributed to higher contents of these compounds. From this observation, it could be concluded that in order to avoid negative effects on the quality of L. pumila, it is advisable to avoid excessive application of nitrogen fertilizer when cultivating the herb for its medicinal use. |
| IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 383-392: Assessment of Genetic Diversity of Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) Using ISSR Markers Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:00 AM PST Bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) is a major turfgrass for home lawns, public parks, golf courses and sport fields and is known to have originated in the Middle East. Morphological and physiological characteristics are not sufficient to differentiate some bermudagrass genotypes because the differences between them are often subtle and subjected to environmental influences. In this study, twenty seven bermudagrass accessions and introductions, mostly from different parts of Iran, were assayed by inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers to differentiate and explore their genetic relationships. Fourteen ISSR primers amplified 389 fragments of which 313 (80.5%) were polymorphic. The average polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.328, which shows that the majority of primers are informative. Cluster analysis using the un-weighted paired group method with arithmetic average (UPGMA) method and Jaccard's similarity coefficient (r = 0.828) grouped the accessions into six main clusters according to some degree to geographical origin, their chromosome number and some morphological characteristics. It can be concluded that there exists a wide genetic base of bermudograss in Iran and that ISSR markers are effective in determining genetic diversity and relationships among them. |
| MacPilot 4.3.2 - Enable over 1,000 hidden features in Mac OS X and other apps.. (Shareware) Posted: 28 Dec 2011 08:59 PM PST  MacPilot can enable and disable hidden features in Mac OS X, optimize and repair your system, and perform numerous routine maintenance operations with the click of a button! Pro user or not, you can now increase computer performance with only a few clicks of the mouse. Optimize your network for broadband connectivity, completely customize Apple File Sharing, perform essential maintenance without having to remember mind boggling acronyms, and much more. However, those are just a few of the many reasons why MacPilot is your choice over Cocktail, TinkerTool and Onyx. Enable the "cut" option in the Finder, disable menu items for security, disable icon caches, set history limits, erase recently used files, prevent your dock from being modified, turn off all system animations, increase the speed at which windows resize, change which format screenshots are taken in, set a default name and location for screenshots, disable a secondary processor, the startup chime, and even change the login window picture. Over 900 features in total!
Version 4.3.2: - New Feature: Can now select multiple files in lock/visibility tools.
- Bug Fix: Manual pages now load correctly.
- Bug Fix: Miscellaneous Lion fixes
- Bug Fix: Fixed a few typos
- Bug Fix: Removed iCal event duration for Mac OS X 10.7 as Apple removed this feature.
- Bug Fix: Corrected issue with admin authorization being requested.
- Bug Fix: Can now set site icon mode for Safari 5
Mac OS X 10.5 or later Download Now This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Bean 3.0.2 - A fast and uncluttered word processor.. (Free) Posted: 28 Dec 2011 08:59 PM PST  Bean is lean, fast, and uncluttered. If you get depressed at the thought of firing up MS Word or OpenOffice, try Bean. If you use Text Edit but have to jump through hoops just to get a word count or change the margins, try Bean. If you're pining away for Write Now-esque simplicity or just want a low-pressure writing environment, try Bean. Features: - A live word count
- A Get Info panel for in-depth statistics
- A zoom-slider to easily change the view scale
- An Inspector panel with lots of sliders
- Date-stamped backups
- Autosaving
- A page layout mode
- An alternate colors option (e.g., white text on blue)
- An option to show invisible characters (tabs, returns, spaces)
- Selection of text by text style, paragraph style, color, etc.
- A floating windows option (like Stickies has)
- Easy to use menus
- Remembers cursor postion (excluding .txt, .html, .webarchive formats)
- All of Cocoa's good stuff (dictionary, word completion, etc.)
- Please keep in mind that Bean is betaware
Version 3.0.2: - Fixed a problem where text fields did not accept digits after ',' used as a decimal.
Mac OS X 10.5 or later Download Now This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| AirRadar 2.2.1 - Easy-to-use, personalized wireless network scanner.. (Shareware) Posted: 28 Dec 2011 08:59 PM PST  With AirRadar, scanning for wireless networks is now easier and more personalized! AirRadar allows you to scan for open networks and tag them as favourites or filter them out. View detailed network information, graph network signal strength, and automatically join the best open network in range. Whether you are driving around looking for wireless networks, stuck in traffic, sitting on the beach, or if you are curious how strong your wireless signal is at home, AirRadar provides a more linear approach to network hunting. Setup a scan frequency, and have new open or closed networks have their name spoken, play alerts, or display notifications. Various other options allow you to customize your network list further, including assigning colors to best open networks and sound cues. Download it today, and take the hardship out of getting an internet connection at a critical time.
Version 2.2.1: - Bug Fix: Miscellaneous bug fixes.
Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later Download Now This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 1Password 3.8.13 - Powerful password manager; integrates with Web browsers and more.. (Shareware) Posted: 28 Dec 2011 08:59 PM PST  1Password is a password manager that uniquely brings you both security and convenience. It is the only program that provides anti-phishing protection and goes beyond password management by adding web form filling and automatic strong password generation. Your confidential information, including passwords, identities, and credit cards, is kept secure using strong encryption. 1Password fully supports major web browsers, including Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. All browser extensions share the data stored in the keychain which means you never need to manually copy your passwords between browsers or from the password manager to a browser ever again! 1Password has received numerous awards, including 4.5 mice from Macworld magazine, MacLife Editors pick, and was the Pick of Week on MacBreak Weekly by both Leo Laporte and Merlin Mann. 1Password also has a companion iPhone/iPod touch application available in iTunes App Store. Version 3.8.13: - Changed Removed Firefox from Import options as the current extension imports it directly within Firefox.
- Changed - Updated Diagnostics Report to log the extension's database schema information.
- Changed - Adding Available Disk Space to diagnostics report.
- Changed - Added more logging to 1Password Helper to help investigate situations involving sync issues.
- Fixed - Now handling escaped quotes when importing CSV / Delimited files.
- Fixed - Fixed problem re-importing deleted data from 1Password Interchange (.1pif) files.
Download Now |
| State of the arms race between repressive governments and anti-censorship/surveillance Tor technology (and why American companies are on the repressive governments' side) Posted: 28 Dec 2011 11:50 PM PST Last night's Chaos Computer Congress (28C3) presentation from Jacob Applebaum and Roger Dingledine on the state of the arms race between the Tor anti-censorship/surveillance technology and the world's repressive governments was by turns depressing and inspiring. Dingledine and Applebaum have unique insights into the workings of the technocrats in Iranian, Chinese, Tunisian, Syrian and other repressive states, and the relationship between censorship and other human rights abuses (for example, when other privacy technologies failed, governments sometimes discovered who was discussing revolution and used that as the basis for torture and murder). Two thirds of the way through the talk, they broaden the context to talk about the role of American companies in the war waged against privacy and free speech -- SmartFilter (now an Intel subsidiary, and a company that has a long history of censoring Boing Boing) is providing support for Iran's censorship efforts, for example. They talked about how Blue Coat and Cisco produce tools that aren't just used to censor, but to spy (all censorware also acts as surveillance technology) and how the spying directly leads to murder and rape and torture. Then, they talked about the relationship between corporate networks and human rights abuses. Iran, China, and Syria, they say, lack the resources to run their own censorship and surveillance R&D projects, and on their own, they don't present enough of a market to prompt Cisco to spend millions to develop such a thing. But when a big company like Boeing decides to pay Cisco millions and millions of dollars to develop censorware to help it spy on its employees, the world's repressive governments get their R&D subsidized, and Cisco gets a product it can sell to them. They concluded by talking about how Western governments' insistence on "lawful interception" back-doors in network equipment means that all the off-the-shelf network gear is readymade for spying, so, again, the Syrian secret police and the Iranian telcoms spies don't need to order custom technology that lets them spy on their people, because an American law, CALEA, made it mandatory that this technology be included in all the gear sold in the USA. If you care at all about the future of free speech, democracy, and privacy, this is an absolute must-see presentation. Iran blocked Tor handshakes using Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) in January 2011 and September 2011. Bluecoat tested out a Tor handshake filter in Syria in June 2011. China has been harvesting and blocking IP addresses for both public Tor relays and private Tor bridges for years. Roger Dingledine and Jacob Appelbaum will talk about how exactly these governments are doing the blocking, both in terms of what signatures they filter in Tor (and how we've gotten around the blocking in each case), and what technologies they use to deploy the filters -- including the use of Western technology to operate the surveillance and censorship infrastructure in Tunisia (Smartfilter), Syria (Bluecoat), and other countries. We'll cover what we've learned about the mindset of the censor operators (who in many cases don't want to block Tor because they use it!), and how we can measure and track the wide-scale censorship in these countries. Last, we'll explain Tor's development plans to get ahead of the address harvesting and handshake DPI arms races. How governments have tried to block Tor     |
| App iSplashColors 2.5.1 - Color areas of a black and white photo.. (Commercial) Posted: 28 Dec 2011 11:19 PM PST  With App iSplashColors you turn your image in a vibrant Black and White and brush back to Color the areas you want to pop-out... Additionally, iPopColor... - lets you fine tune the way the black and white image is generated to create a rich image full of details
- lets you adjust the Hue Saturation Lightness to make your image even more vibrant!
You can zoom/pan on your images for precise work. You can work with multiple images. Perform the effect on a batch of images... IPopColor lets you save in JPEG, TIF, PNG, BMP, PICT, GIF, Photoshop format, you can even work/save 16bit color PNG/TIF/PSD images. Any questions, please do not hesitate to ask... We are highly dedicated to the quality of our tools and give support! You get it all for under 1 USDollar! Version 2.5.1: - ShortCuts added
- Performance Improvements
- Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later
- 64-bit processor
Download Now |
