Managing Potentially Intrusive Practices in the Browser: A User-Centered Perspective

Browser users encounter a broad array of potentially intrusive practices: from behavioral profiling, to crypto-mining, fingerprinting, and more. We study people’s perception, awareness, understanding, and preferences to opt out of those practices. We conducted a mixed-methods study that included qualitative (n=186) and quantitative (n=888) surveys covering 8 neutrally presented practices, equally highlighting both their benefits and risks. Consistent with prior research focusing on specific practices and mitigation techniques, we observe that most people are unaware of how to effectively identify or control the practices we surveyed. However, our user-centered approach reveals diverse views about the perceived risks and benefits, and that the majority of our participants wished to both restrict and be explicitly notified about the surveyed practices. Though prior research shows that meaningful controls are rarely available, we found that many participants mistakenly assume opt-out settings are common but just too difficult to find. However, even if they were hypothetically available on every website, our findings suggest that settings which allow practices by default are more burdensome to users than alternatives which are contextualized to website categories instead. Our results argue for settings which can distinguish among website categories where certain practices are seen as permissible, proactively notify users about their presence, and otherwise deny intrusive practices by default. Standardizing these settings in the browser rather than being left to individual websites would have the advantage of providing a uniform interface to support notification, control, and could help mitigate dark patterns. We also discuss the regulatory implications of the findings.

Quantum magnetoconductivity characterization of interface disorder in indium-tin-oxide films on fused silica

Disorder arising from random locations of charged donors and acceptors introduces localization and diffusive motion that can lead to constructive electron interference and positive magnetoconductivity. At very low temperatures, 3D theory predicts that the magnetoconductivity is independent of temperature or material properties, as verified for many combinations of thin-films and substrates. Here, we find that this prediction is apparently violated if the film thickness d is less than about 300 nm. To investigate the origin of this apparent violation, the magnetoconductivity was measured at temperatures T = 15 – 150 K in ten, Sn-doped In2O3 films with d = 13 – 292 nm, grown by pulsed laser deposition on fused silica. We observe a very strong thickness dependence which we explain by introducing a theory that postulates a second source of disorder, namely, non-uniform interface-induced defects whose number decreases exponentially with the interface distance. This theory obeys the 3D limit for the thickest samples and yields a natural figure of merit for interface disorder. It can be applied to any degenerate semiconductor film on any semi-insulating substrate.

Towards Ubiquitous Data Access Service of 3D Part Library in Cloud Scheme with Host Independence

Most current part libraries are created and deployed in specific usage environments or CAD platforms, which inevitably brings obstacles in the share and exchange for part information. To reduce repeated development and provide a uniform interface for designers in different sites, a 3D part library in cloud scheme is presented in this paper. Host programs with predetermined specification can access the part data through an adapter according to their customized requests with uniform interfaces, which constructs a ubiquitous service. To realize host independence, the part models are created in a native ACIS modeler, and then they are converted into 3D files in various formats for practical needs, finally these files are imported into CAD systems or other platforms in real designs. The whole framework can be divided into three components, namely, PLS(Part Library Service) provider, PLS adapters and hosts. PLS provider is the kernel of 3D data access service in cloud scheme, while PLS adapters serve as the bridges that connect PLS provider and hosts, and the PLS can be grafted on various applications including current mainstream CAD systems as a plug-in module or run on the websites or even mobile terminals. The PLS provider is deployed and maintained on cloud and users can acquire remote part information within a local ongoing project. In the detailed construction of this part library, diversiform knowledge for part parameters and structures is implanted to define the geometry and rule constraints in the 3D modeling, with which the backstage has the ability of conveniently editing the information in the part library for better upgrade and contrapuntally services. The concept has been implemented within a PaaS framework to provide the ubiquitous 3D part data access, which has been successfully applied in a large number of manufacturing enterprises, and accumulates considerable practical cases.

Experimental evaluation of the compression garment produced from elastic spacer fabrics through real human limb

Spacer fabrics found vast applications as medical textile due to their intrinsic and unique properties such as good air permeability, breathability, compressibility and comfort. The aim of this study is to utilize weft knitted spacer fabric as pressure garment to apply more uniform interface pressure on limb than common commercial fabrics. Initially, different weft knitted spacer fabrics by varying the spacer fabric thickness (0.8, 1.2 and 1.8 mm) and elastane yarn content (25, 30, 35 and 40%) were produced. Then, mean interface pressure was obtained through conducting the Mannequin test. Based on the Mannequin test results, spacer fabrics with similar applied interface pressure to commercial one were selected to perform human limb test. According to the results, the spacer fabric with the thickness of 1.8[Formula: see text] and elastane yarn content of 25% not only applied interface pressure comparable to commercial fabric, but also exhibited the most uniform interface pressure mapping on human limb among those studied. Also experimental results showed the superior performance of spacer knitted fabrics with elastane yarn than the single jersey knitted fabrics as pressure garments.

Analysis of ISO/TS 21526 Towards the Extension of a Standardized Query API

Metadata is often used for different tasks in the field of medical informatics: semantic description of data, quality validation, data integration, or information retrieval. Metadata definitions are captured and curated in time-consuming tasks and stored in metadata repositories that manage and preserve the metadata. Due to technical and legal restrictions, metadata is rarely as easily accessible and interoperable as it is necessary for modern information systems. In a previous study, a uniform interface based on the widely used ISO/IEC 11179 and the Facebook data retrieval language GraphQL was introduced as a solution to these technical obstacles. In the meantime, the ISO standard 21526 has been published, a recent version designed with a strong focus on health informatics. While it is conceptually oriented on the metamodel in ISO 11179, a number of extensions but also restructurings have been introduced. In this study, the authors investigated the difference between ISO 11179 and ISO 21526 and extended the unified metadata query interface to be future-proof and in particular, to support the semantic extensions of ISO 21526.

Plate speeds modulated by sediment subduction: insights from numerical models

<p>Tectonic plate velocities predominantly result from a balance between the potential energy change of the subducting slab and viscous dissipation in the mantle, bending lithosphere, and slab–upper plate interface. A range of observations suggest that slabs may be weak, implying a more prominent role for plate interface dissipation than previously thought. Behr & Becker (2018) suggested that the deep interface viscosity in subduction zones should be strongly affected by the relative proportions of sedimentary to mafic rocks that are subducted to depth, and that sediment subduction should thus facilitate faster subduction plate speeds. Here we use fully dynamic 2D subduction models built with the code ASPECT to quantitatively explore how subduction interface viscosity influences: a) subducting plate sinking velocities, b) trench migration rates, c) convergence velocities, d) upper plate strain regimes, e) dynamic topography, and f) interactions with the 660 km mantle transition zone.  We implement two main types of models, including 1) uniform interface models where interface viscosity and slab strength are systematically varied, and 2) varying interface models where a low viscosity sediment strip of finite width is embedded within a higher viscosity interface. Uniform interface models indicate that low viscosity (sediment-lubricated) slabs have substantially faster sinking velocities prior to reaching the 660, especially for weak slabs, and also that they achieve faster ‘steady state’ velocities after 660 penetration. Even models where sediments are limited to a strip on the seafloor show accelerations in convergence rates of up to ~5 mm/y per my, with convergence initially accommodated by trench rollback and later by slab sinking. We discuss these results in the context of well-documented plate accelerations in Earth’s history such as India-Asia convergence and convergence rate oscillations along the Andean margin.</p><p>References: Behr, W. M., & Becker, T. W. (2018). Sediment control on subduction plate speeds. <em>Earth and Planetary Science Letters</em>, <em>502</em>, 166-173.</p>

Educating the Information Integration Using Contextual Knowledge and Ontology Merging in Advanced Levels

This paper defines the methods of educating the information integration by the use of ontologies. For this there are two various architecture are central and peer-to-peer data integration. A ciis generally has a worldwide mapping, which gives the client a uniform interface to get to data put away in the information sources. Conversely, in piis, there are no worldwide purposes of control on the information sources. Such systems enable developers to develop an integrated hybrid contextual based system and new concepts to be introduced. This enables the retrival of the information is easier and faster. The two most significant methodologies for structure an information integration framework is global as view & local as view (lav). In the gav method, each substance in the worldwide pattern is related nearby outline. In this paper we use various ontology languages like xml, rdf, daml+oil, owl etc.

The anchored location of CdS on SiC via organosilane for effective heterogeneous interface design in photocatalysis

This work demonstrates a new approach to construct a heterogeneous junction by means of the periodic lattice distribution of semiconductor atoms. The organosilane was applied as an anchored coupling agent to connect the semiconductors at both ends, one of which connects SiC and the other connects CdS, and the SiC/M/CdS heterogeneous junction was established. The photocatalytic hydrogen evolution ability of this heterojunction was three times as much as the traditional SiC/CdS composite under visible light. Meanwhile, the uniform interface distribution, prolonged charge-carrier lifetime and minor electron–hole recombination were achieved. The results provide new insights into interface design and offer an indepth understanding with respect to organic–inorganic heterojunction configuration in photocatalysis.