PRINCETON, N.J. and ELSTREE, England, July 16 — Infragistics, the world leader in presentation layer development tools, announced today Infragistics NetAdvantage for .NET 2007 Volume 2. With this new release that includes toolsets for both ASP.NET and Windows Forms, Infragistics is expanding its commitment to business intelligence, data visualization and supporting executive information dashboards by adding gauge controls, search engine optimization, a document export engine and enhanced Excel exporting capabilities. By leveraging the rich user interface toolset, AJAX compatibility and easy styling in this product, Infragistics empowers developers to add further productivity to business applications.
“This year, one of our focuses has been on giving our customers innovative tools to fulfill their needs for business intelligence and data visualization,” said Steve Dadoly, Vice President of Engineering at Infragistics. “The new features in this release give developers the power to easily and quickly build useful business applications such as business information dashboards or near real-time information monitoring software to deliver key performance indicators to executives in an easy-to-understand format.”

New Features to the Suite include:

Gauge Control: In both NetAdvantage for ASP.NET and NetAdvantage for Windows Forms, the gauge control supports Radial (Dial) and Linear style gauges and supports Digital LED-style character displays. It also includes a flexible Object Model that allows multiple gauges and displays to be composited together into a single display, and includes a rich styling API that allows for the creation of highly-styled, real-world controls.

Search Engine Optimization: When appropriate, the controls will alter normal output to include HTML markup that enables Search Engine Crawler to easily see the company’s entire website, helping increase search engine rankings, and website visibility. This feature is available in the ASP.NET toolset.

Document Export Engine: The Infragistics Document Exporting Engine is a new addition to NetAdvantage for Windows Forms that enables developers to create both standard PDF and XPS documents. This engine gives developers the power to create and easily design full-fledged reports.

Enhanced Excel Exporting: The Windows Forms toolset includes enhanced functionality support for importing images, reading of Excel files, and improving the depth of the control developers have when exporting in an Excel format.

As the market leader, Infragistics has enabled many customers to create professional immersive user interfaces in business applications that are consistent across the enterprise and the web.

“NetAdvantage has been instrumental in helping us build business-critical applications for our clients,” said Infragistics customer Jason Mindte, Principal and Technical Manager at Data Resolution. “It takes about fifty percent less time to deliver applications to my customers because of the tools in Infragistics NetAdvantage. With that time savings, we recover the cost of the product within a month.”

Gregory Varghese, CTO at 2Ahead.com, a development and design software company for the kitchen and bath industry added, “Infragistics makes my life as a developer a 1000 times easier, made me look like a genius to the CEO of the company, and helped me deliver the interface none of your competitors’ products could.”

In September of 2006, a Congressional e-waste working group held a stakeholder meeting in which manufacturers and retailers agreed to find a financing solution for the hill and other stakeholders to consider, Rick Goss, EIA vice president of environmental affairs, says. The EIA’s Environmental Issues Council, which is made up of representatives from 64 companies, including major IT and consumer electronics manufacturers, debated the framework, with the EIA executive committee voting to accept the framework in late May.

The legislative framework EIA has proposed is based on a bifurcated financing system that distinguishes televisions from IT equipment. “The key point is that televisions and IT equipment need to be treated differently,” Goss says. He adds that the major market and life cycle differences between televisions and IT equipment call for different funding mechanisms.
FUNDING A SOLUTION. Goss says that the state laws concerning electronics recycling that have been passed each provide different financing mechanisms to fund the collection and recycling of televisions and IT equipment, creating an uneven playing field for the electronics industry’s various manufacturers depending on their product range. According to Goss, advanced recovery fees or producer responsibility funding mechanisms create winners and losers when applied to electronics manufacturers as a whole. Instead, he says, the EIA’s proposed bifurcated financing system provides a “fair and equitable” financing solution to the industry’s manufacturers.

Goss points out that the life span of a television is generally 15 years, while the life span of IT equipment, especially personal computers and laptops, tends to be much shorter, in the range of six-to-eight years. Technological innovations help to speed the obsolescence of personal computers and laptops as well as to serve as a barrier to entering the industry. However, Goss says, a smaller barrier to entry exists in the television manufacturing sector, meaning that companies, particularly overseas firms, can easily set up manufacturing facilities. “Our members are getting competed to death by foreign competitors, particularly Chinese competitors,” he says. “We don’t know if these companies will be around in 15 years. They are virtual companies with virtually no permanent presence in the U.S.” Goss adds that there is a “huge risk” these foreign competitors may not be around 15 years in the future, which would leave EIA member companies to foot the bill for the recovery and recycling of their competitors’ televisions. “We see a higher orphan rate for TVs than for computer monitors,” he adds.

The bifurcated financing solution the EIA has proposed separates televisions from desktop computers, laptops and computer monitors to reflect their different business models, market composition and consumer base, according to the organization. The collection and recycling of televisions would be conducted through an industry-sponsored, third-party organization and initially supported by a nominal advance recovery fee at the time of purchase. The fee would expire once a significant portion of legacy televisions have been recovered and then revert to a producer responsibility funding mechanism.

Goss says many EIA members are extremely concerned about legislation that calls for manufacturers to fund the recovery and recycling of their branded products in light of the volume of televisions in the market, their longevity and the number of manufacturers entering and leaving the market, all of which contribute to considerable legacy issues. “Long-standing manufacturers have a huge and retroactive responsibility,” he adds, while “virtual” manufacturers can evade their responsibilities by closing down their operations in 10 years and reopening under a different name in the future.

Has Valve’s Steam Network Been Hacked? MaddoxX, of the anti-Valve website No-Steam.org, says he’s hacked the Valve Steam content distribution network as well as Valve itself. 1UP investigates the story with independent security researchers.

House Approves Anti-Spyware Bill Legislation that would help protect consumers from harmful spyware that can harvest personal data from a user’s computer was approved on Thursday by a U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee.

Researcher: JavaScript Attacks Get Slicker Malicious JavaScript is getting smarter. It’s now able to fingerprint victims’ Web browsers, vulnerable components and accessible CLSIDs, and deliver custom-tailored exploits, according to Dr. Jose Nazario, senior security engineer for Arbor Networks.
Man Pleads Guilty in P2P Piracy Probe A fifth defendant pleaded guilty Tuesday in connection with a piracy ring that used BitTorrent technology to distribute copyrighted movies, software, games and music over a peer-to-peer network.

John Shirley’s cyberpunk story “Freezone” describes a future in which leather-clad “rock classicist[s]” keep alive the traditions of 1960s and ’70s music (Shirley 142). These fundamentalists wage a losing battle against techno performers (”sexless … dancing mannequin[s]”) whose bodies are wired to software that turns stage antics directly into sound (145). The present article explores the real-life context of this cyberpunk story. I intend to show how the discourse of classic rock musicianship was reconfigured in the 1980s and 1990s by music television and computerization/digitalization respectively. I argue that recent media relegate performance practices (real-time playing and singing) traditionally central to rock personas to a secondary status. My argument describes this shift as a change in work-gender identities; specifically, labor practices linked to sex roles. Expertise in classic rock was ideologically associated with a realm of masculine craftsmanship illustrated in displays of musical skill. However, the practices introduced by MTV and computer music (image editing, sampling, programming, computer interfacing, or Internet downloading) mimic the procedures of the corporate world. They turn musical gestures into raw material that can be processed by graphics software, computerized instruments, and information networks. The masculine ideology of classic rock is affected by these changes because it celebrates autonomous working subjects handling musical technology in real time. Even though 1960s and ’70s music was mediated by increasingly sophisticated multi-track recording equipment, it made the live context the testing ground of each performer’s authenticity.
John Shirley’s cyberpunk story “Freezone” describes a future in which leather-clad “rock classicist[s]” keep alive the traditions of 1960s and ’70s music (Shirley 142). These fundamentalists wage a losing battle against techno performers (”sexless … dancing mannequin[s]”) whose bodies are wired to software that turns stage antics directly into sound (145). The present article explores the real-life context of this cyberpunk story. I intend to show how the discourse of classic rock musicianship was reconfigured in the 1980s and 1990s by music television and computerization/digitalization respectively. I argue that recent media relegate performance practices (real-time playing and singing) traditionally central to rock personas to a secondary status. My argument describes this shift as a change in work-gender identities; specifically, labor practices linked to sex roles. Expertise in classic rock was ideologically associated with a realm of masculine craftsmanship illustrated in displays of musical skill. However, the practices introduced by MTV and computer music (image editing, sampling, programming, computer interfacing, or Internet downloading) mimic the procedures of the corporate world. They turn musical gestures into raw material that can be processed by graphics software, computerized instruments, and information networks. The masculine ideology of classic rock is affected by these changes because it celebrates autonomous working subjects handling musical technology in real time. Even though 1960s and ’70s music was mediated by increasingly sophisticated multi-track recording equipment, it made the live context the testing ground of each performer’s authenticity.

“It now appears that even such a tepid growth forecast for the PCB market may be overly optimistic. iSuppli now is anticipating a year of little growth — growth that may flatten out as the year progresses,” said Andrew Rassweiler, the market research firm’s senior analyst for passives and interconnect,” in a recent report.

“We expect to officially revise our PCB forecast downward shortly because of poor performance year-to-date,” he added in an interview, with the exact iSuppli PCB projection not yet determined.

And a flat 2002 or a year with very minimal growth would follow a dreadful 2001, during which world PCB revenues slipped sharply. The final total world revenue number in 2001 was $32.5 billion for rigid boards, flex boards and IC substrates, according to iSuppli.

“The year 2001 was obviously a hard one for the entire electronic component supply chain, and PCBs were no exception, with revenues down roughly 24 percent.” Rassweiler said, “And 2002 is looking flatter by the minute.

“There has been slower-than-expected demand for cell phones and other products this year and greater-than-expected PCB price erosion,” Rassweiler said. “Capacity utilization levels have not improved Q1 to Q2, except in China. PCB price pressures will continue through the year.”

And the entire industry eagerly awaits that killer app to show up, with nothing yet in sight. “There is no killer application that will drive us out of the funk that the whole component market is in,” he said.

Meanwhile, Japanese PCB manufacturers claimed three of the top five spots on the world PCB revenue list for 2001, according to iSuppli. Ibiden of Japan was first last year with worldwide revenues of $911 million. CMK of Japan was second at $903 million. Sanmina-SCI of the United States came in third at $900 million. Nippon Mektron of Japan was fourth at $672 million, followed by Tyco PCB Group of the United States, fifth, at $603 million.

Taiwanese and Korean PCB suppliers also rose in the ranks, iSuppli said.

“Major manufacturers slipped and slid, but not all at the same pace, affecting the worldwide rankings of many prominent PCB suppliers,” Rassweiler said.

But total PCB sales aren’t everything, what a company makes is also crucial. “Rankings don’t tell the whole story,” Rassweiler said. “The strategies of PCB suppliers ultimately will determine how they fare, or even if they survive, in coming years. The top manufacturers are making a flight to high-value, high-margin products. A lot of new competition has arrived on the scene in the commodity, low-layer count board segment–i.e., boards with six layers or less–forcing prices and margins into the basement. Therefore, it is logical that manufacturers who are capable of producing high-tech, high-value PCBs do so to maintain their competitive edge. As a result, the top suppliers are focusing on a combination of IC substrates, HDI/microvia boards, and higher-layer-count boards and backplanes.

Drafting dispute resolution clauses for commercial agreements is becoming increasingly more specialized because of a growing body of case law. Although the broad issue of the enforceability of arbitration clauses is well established, courts are addressing narrower enforceability issues, such as the validity of punitive damages clauses and clauses expanding or contracting the right to appeal, as well as the enforceability of class arbitration waivers.

On April 20, 2006, the 1st Circuit became the latest federal circuit court to address the validity of class arbitration waivers and the first to address such waivers in the context of antitrust claims. In Kristian v. Comcast Corp.,2 the 1st Circuit held that the waiver was unenforceable on the grounds that it (1) prevented the claimant from vindicating federal and state antitrust claims and (2) conflicted with Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP).
Whether parties can be forced into a classwide arbitration, even when their arbitration clause explicitly precludes this kind of proceeding, is an issue that continues to create unrest. Most recently, the 1st Circuit held that a class arbitration waiver1 was unenforceable. And rather than striking the provision in its entirety, the court severed the class prohibition and enforced the remaining portion of the arbitration clause. The net result was a proceeding to which neither party agreed.
Whether parties can be forced into a classwide arbitration, even when their arbitration clause explicitly precludes this kind of proceeding, is an issue that continues to create unrest. Most recently, the 1st Circuit held that a class arbitration waiver1 was unenforceable. And rather than striking the provision in its entirety, the court severed the class prohibition and enforced the remaining portion of the arbitration clause. The net result was a proceeding to which neither party agreed.

CONTEXT: Latex allergy and sensitization have been an important problem facing health care workers. Providing a latex-safe environment is the intervention of choice.

CASE PRESENTATION: A 46-year-old surgical pathologist presented with increasing shortness of breath for the previous 4 years. Twenty years before presentation, he noted a pruritic, erythematous rash on his hands, associated with latex glove use. Fourteen years before presentation, during pathology residency, he developed a nonproductive cough, wheezing, and an urticarial rash, temporally associated with use of powdered latex gloves. These symptoms improved while away from work. At presentation, he had one-flight dyspnea. His skin prick test was positive for latex, and pulmonary function testing showed mild obstruction, which was reversible with bronchodilator use. Because the patient was at risk for worsening pulmonary function and possible anaphylaxis with continued exposure, he was removed from the workplace because no reasonable accommodation was made for him at that time.
DISCUSSION: The patient’s presentation is consistent with latex-induced occupational asthma. Initially noting dermal manifestations, consistent with an allergic contact dermatitis secondary to accelerators present in latex gloves, he later developed urticaria, flushing, and respiratory symptoms, consistent with a type I hypersensitivity reaction to latex. He also has reversible airways disease, with significant improvement of peak expiratory flow rate and symptoms when away from work.
RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL OR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: The ideal treatment for latex sensitization is removal from and avoidance of exposure. Clinicians should consider occupational asthma when patients present with new-onset asthma or asthmatic symptoms that worsen at work.

KEY WORDS: formaldehyde, health care worker, latex allergy, occupational asthma, pathology, xylene.

doi:10.1289/ehp.7830 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 31 March 2005]

Case Presentation

A 46-year-old male surgical pathologist presented to our clinic complaining of a 4-year history of increasing shortness of breath. He had been in good health until 20 years prior while in medical school, when he noted a pruritic, erythematous rash on the dorsal aspect of his hands whenever he wore latex gloves. He often applied steroid cream to the rash, but it usually did not resolve unless he refrained from using latex gloves. This rash, associated with latex glove use, persisted during his internal medicine residency. Approximately 14 years before presentation, at the beginning of his pathology residency, he noted that the rash involved his arms. He developed an episodic, nonproductive cough, wheezing, and occasional chest tightness, which occurred at work when he used powdered latex gloves. These symptoms were mild and did not interfere with his vigorous exercise program. He did not seek medical attention.

After completing his residency, the patient worked as a hospital-based surgical pathologist. Typical daily activities involved cutting tissue and frozen sections and preparing slides. He changed gloves several times each day. He did reasonably well until 4 years before presentation (1993), when his symptoms worsened. He then experienced cough and dyspnea within 30 min of starting work. These symptoms, which continued throughout the workday and improved once he left work, seemed especially severe on the first day of the workweek and worsened as the week progressed. The use of xylene and formaldehyde exacerbated his symptoms. He noted an intermittent rash on his upper extremities and torso, occasional flushing with exposure to latex, postnasal drip, progressive dyspnea on exertion, and dyspnea and coughing when he laughed. He noted heavy breathing if he “flipped” his gloves off, and he described an episode of “passing out” 1 year earlier when he “flipped” his gloves off and placed his hands over his mouth and nose. He was taken to a local emergency department, where he was diagnosed as having had a vasovagal episode. He was returned to work without intervention.

The patient’s wife and co-workers started commenting on his cough, noting that he “breathed heavily.” He became self-conscious about his cough and about constantly having to clear his throat. There was no seasonal variation to his symptoms. The patient attempted to reduce his exposure to powdered natural rubber latex (NRL) gloves, formaldehyde, and xylene. For example, he switched to non-powdered latex gloves, although his co-workers continued to use the powdered form. He replaced eyecups on the microscope once he realized that they contained latex. He instructed his staff to allow an hour for drying slides fixed with formaldehyde and xylene before sending them to him to be read. His symptoms persisted, however, prompting him to seek medical attention.

The patient subsequently consulted with an allergist, an otorhinolaryngologist, and a dermatologist. Skin biopsy of his rash revealed changes consistent with acute urticaria. Latex skin prick tests were positive to latex glove extracts. Skin prick tests were positive to dust, cat dander, and mold antigens, and a computerized tomography (CT) scan of the sinuses revealed nasal polyps in the maxillary sinus. He was diagnosed with chronic sinusitis, asthma, and allergic rhinitis. Treatment included antibiotics and a steroid taper. The patient was started on Serevent (GlaxoSmithKline, Research Triangle Park, NC), Flovent (GlaxoSmithKline), and Proventil (Schering, Kenilworth, NJ) inhalers and returned to work with the recommendation that he use a surgical mask while at work. His symptoms continued to progress, and he presented to us 2 months later, by which time he was experiencing single-flight dyspnea.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Homeland Integrated Security Systems, Inc. (OTC: HISC) announced today that it has completed the development of its Third Generation Port Control Access System.

After completing the original concept phase in Tampa, FL, and utilizing information obtained through that process, Homeland Integrated Security Systems, Inc., in conjunction with Alex Esquia and John Foote, project supervisors for the access control in Tampa, has developed a third generation access control system. The new patent pending access control system will allow Homeland Integrated Security Systems, Inc. to integrate the Cyber Tracker, its dispensing system, radiation detection and a new software system that will increase security while also increasing commerce.
According to Ian Riley, CTO of HISS, “The third generation design will open new opportunities for HISS in the port security arena as well as allowing HISS to have a broader presence in other security markets.”

According to Frank Moody, CEO, “The newly designed access control system, named “CYBER PASS”, is the first system to use access control components while making use of our exclusive, real-time port vehicle tracking system.”

About Homeland Integrated Security Systems

Homeland Integrated Security Systems owns proprietary technology and has the rights to use patents to some of the most innovative and sophisticated seaport security products. Their target market is the 361 commercial seaports in the US which are vulnerable to criminal penetration. For more information please visit our website at www.hissusa.com or contact Matt Maguire at 1-866-THE-APPL(E).

Statements regarding financial matters in this press release other than historical facts are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company intends that such statements about the Company’s future expectations, including future revenues and earnings, and all other forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbors created thereby. Since these statements (future operational results and sales) involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, the Company’s actual results may differ materially from expected results.

Mounted in 2-48 in. pipes, Signet 2552 provides dynamic flow range of 0.15-33 fps with repeatability of [+ or -]0.5% of reading at 25[degrees]C. It uses corrosion-resistant materials, including 316 SS, PVDF, and FPM to ensure minimal maintenance. With no moving parts to wear, unit accurately measures flow in fluids containing high content of particles, solids, and fibers. Offering empty pipe detection and bi-directional flow capabilities, device provides frequency, digital, or 4-20 mA output.

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GF Piping’s New Metal Magmeter Features Easy Hot Tap Installation without System Shutdown and Choice of Three Output Options
TUSTIN, Calif. - Feb. 1, 2007 - GF Piping has introduced the new Signet 2552 Metal Magmeter, a rugged insertion flow sensor that permits hot-tap access to the pipe stream. This design allows quick and easy installation or maintenance without system shut-down, significantly reducing overall costs. Three output choices are incorporated into a durable metal housing, providing a robust device capable of accurate flow sensing in extremely harsh environments.

The 2552 can be mounted into a broad range of pipe sizes from 2 to 48 inches (DN50 to DN1200). Outstanding performance characteristics include a wide dynamic flow range of 0.15 to 33 ft/s (0.05 to 10 m/s) with repeatability of [+ or -]0.5% of reading at 25[degrees]C. Superior linearity of [+ or -]1% reading provides excellent performance across a wide range of environments. Corrosion-resistant materials include 316 Stainless Steel, PVDF and FPM to ensure long service reliability and minimal maintenance.
Key to the unit’s design is its adjustable configuration, which allows a hot-tap installation using a ball valve. Installation or service can be completed without any additional tools or disrupting the pipe, and retrofitting is easily accomplished. For special underwater applications, a submersible waterproof cable is available.

The 2552’s magmeter technology features no moving parts to wear or foul and high accuracy sensing without the excessive costs associated with full bore magnetic flow units. With no moving parts to wear, the unit accurately measures flow in fluids containing a high content of particles, solids and fibers, making it an excellent choice for applications with dirty fluids. Typical applications include municipal water distribution, water inlets to process plants, surface, ground and ocean water, chemical processing, water and wastewater monitoring, and industrial water distribution.

Offering maximum application versatility, the 2552 is available in three output options including frequency, digital, or 4-20mA. These options allow customers the flexibility to connect with other Signet instrumentation via the frequency or digital (S3L) signal output, or use the blind transmitter (4 to 20 mA output) or digital sensor interface for long distance signal transmission application requirements. The 4 to 20mA output is factory spanned and can be changed using the PC compatible accessory set-up tool.

The 2552 Magmeter offers both empty pipe detection and bi-directional flow capabilities. These sophisticated features enable the unit to meet a wide range of application needs. An empty pipe is detected by sensing when the electrodes are not completely wetted and indicates the condition with a zero flow signal output. This feature eliminates the need to perform special plumbing to keep the sensor wet at all times, or the need to re-pipe or re-mount the sensor in another location when fluid is emptied from the pipe - both valuable time savers in terms of labor and cost.

Policies for distributed systems and networks; proceedings.

IEEE International Workshop on Policies for Distributed Systems and Networks (6th: 2005: Stockholm, Sweden)

Computer Society Press

2005

256 pages

$182.00

Paperback

QA76.9

This collection of 20 full papers and nine short papers from the June 2005 workshop explores current trends in application of policy in the areas of security, trust, privacy, and management. The contributors present an RBAC-based policy information base, an architecture for scheduling resource in grid environments, and an audit logic for accountability. Other topics include automated decomposition of access control policies, privacy protection of enterprise information through inference analysis, deriving semantic models from privacy policies, declarative policies for web service selection, and information lifecycle management in a large-scale file system. No subject index is provided.