Integrated Services

1 RESUMEN La Calidad de Servicio (QoS), vista como un factor que debe ser inherente a la red, fue la respuesta a las nuevas exigencias que se derivaron de tal crecimiento. Actualmente, BestEffort, asignando cierto ancho de banda a todos los usuarios instantáneos de la mejor manera posible, sin hacer verdaderos compromisos en cuanto a la tasa de transferencia o el retardo de los paquetes, es el mecanismo que se implementa en la mayoría de las redes. Sin embargo, como esto no es realmente eficaz, ni mucho menos significativo, se han desarrollado mecanismos más especializados como IntServ, DiffServ, los cuales han sido capaces de enfatizar más la mejora de los parámetros que influyen en el aval de la prestación de un servicio calificado. No obstante, aún y cuando alcanzan a dar solución a los problemas de QoS en la red, su progreso se denota insuficiente en relación con el de la infraestructura y el crecimiento de la misma. Consecuentemente, en los últimos años las redes tradicionales han prestado servicios a pesar del ancho de banda insuficiente, la falta de soporte multimedia, bajas velocidades, limitación de la movilidad y la predominancia de la voz, razones que deterioran en gran medida la QoS que se entrega al usuario final.El objetivo principal de esta investigación fue la propuesta de una mejor alternativa de cumplimiento de calidad de servicio (QoS) en Internet, para la utilización de los servicios Diffserv (servicios diferenciados) eIntserv (servicios integrados). Tanto los servicios Diferenciados, como los servicios Integrados proveen a su manera las garantías de QoS: IntServ provee garantías por flujo y con un establecimiento previo de la ruta lo cual le supone un buen comportamiento en términos de granularidad de servicio y de seguridad pero representa un pobre desempeño en parámetros como escalabilidad y velocidad. DifServ por su parte provee garantías por agregado de flujo y por salto. Esta propuesta presenta una buena escalabilidad y velocidad en el establecimiento de la transferencia pero le resta prestancia en granularidad, seguridad y respuesta a los cambios. Cabe señalar que la PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DEL ECUADOR Propuesta de una mejor alternativa de cumplimiento de calidad de servicio (QoS) en internet, para utilización de los Servicios Diferenciados (DiffServ) y Servicios Integrados (IntServ). ii En sus inicios, las redes fueron planteadas para establecer comunicaciones y compartir recursos en instituciones gubernamentales y/o de investigaciones en donde sólo eran implementadas para recolectar o transportar información y en donde el rendimiento era el mínimo en comparación con el actual, pero que para las necesidades de aquella época representaban grandes prestaciones. Con el paso del tiempo, las redes salieron de su nicho institucional y se abrieron hacia el público en general, causando de esta forma, un aumento en el número de usuarios, y análogamente un crecimiento de las demandas hacia las mismas. Esta situación de expansión en la cobertura de la red, así como de sus servicios, hizo que su manejo se tornara más complejo, sobretodo porque ya no sólo se pensaba en que estas ejecutaran sus funciones de comunicación, sino que las realizaran de forma eficiente y tomando en cuenta la experiencia del usuario con las mismas. La Calidad de Servicio (QoS), vista como un factor que debe ser inherente a la red, fue la respuesta a las nuevas exigencias que se derivaron de tal crecimiento. Actualmente, Best Effort, asignando cierto ancho de banda a todos los usuarios instantáneos de la mejor manera posible, sin hacer verdaderos compromisos en cuanto a la tasa de transferencia o el retardo de los paquetes, es el mecanismo que se implementa en la mayoría de las redes. Sin embargo, como esto no es realmente eficaz, ni mucho menos significativo, se han desarrollado mecanismos más especializados como IntServ, DiffServ, los cuales han sido capaces de enfatizar más la mejora de los parámetros que influyen en el aval de la prestación de un servicio calificado. No obstante, aún y cuando alcanzan a dar solución a los problemas de QoS en la red, su progreso se denota insuficiente en relación con el de la infraestructura y el crecimiento de la misma. Consecuentemente, en los últimos años las redes tradicionales han prestado servicios a pesar del ancho de banda insuficiente, la falta de soporte multimedia, bajas velocidades, limitación de la movilidad y la predominancia de la voz, razones que deterioran en gran medida la QoS que se entrega al usuario final. PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DEL ECUADOR Propuesta de una mejor alternativa de cumplimiento de calidad de servicio (QoS) en internet, para utilización de los Servicios Diferenciados (DiffServ) y Servicios Integrados (IntServ). iii Hoy, las redes de información se encuentran en un proceso de evolución que busca la convergencia dentro de una misma infraestructura basada en paquetes que permita prestar múltiples servicios concurrentes, con capacidades de QoS extremo a extremo y proporcionando movilidad y acceso generalizado, todo enmarcado dentro de las Redes de Siguiente Generación (NGN). NGN tiene metas bastante ambiciosas en cuanto a la variedad de servicios que quiere ofrecer, la flexibilidad de los medios y protocolos, y los términos de la movilidad y múltiple acceso. Esto requiere un estudio y diagnóstico minucioso, debido a la convergencia de múltiples tecnologías de transporte e interfuncionamiento con las redes ya existentes. Sin embargo, es la satisfacción del usuario (QoS), uno de los puntos más complejos e importantes a analizar y resolver y, que refleja el nivel de eficacia y equitatividad de la red. Propuesta de una mejor alternativa de cumplimiento de calidad de servicio (QoS) en internet, para utilización de los Servicios Diferenciados (DiffServ) y Servicios Integrados (IntServ).

Sensing is a recent research trend that aims at providing widespread computing and sensing capabilities to enable the creation of smart environments that can sense, process, and act by considering input coming from both people and devices. The capabilities necessary for Pervasive Sensing are nowadays available on a plethora of devices, from embedded devices to PCs and smartphones. The wide availability of new devices and the large amount of data they can access enable a wide range of novel services in different areas, spanning from simple data collection systems to socially-aware collaborative filtering. However, the strong heterogeneity and unreliability of devices and sensors poses significant challenges. So far, existing works on Pervasive Sensing have focused only on limited portions of the whole stack of available devices and data that they can use, to propose and develop mainly vertical solutions. The push from academia and industry for this kind of services shows that time is mature for a more general support framework for Pervasive Sensing solutions able to enhance frail architectures, promote a well balanced usage of resources on different devices, and enable the widest possible access to sensed data, while ensuring a minimal energy consumption on battery-operated devices. This thesis focuses on pervasive sensing systems to extract design guidelines as foundation of a comprehensive reference model for multi-tier Pervasive Sensing applications. The validity of the proposed model is tested in five different scenarios that present peculiar and different requirements, and different hardware and sensors. The ease of mapping from the proposed logical model to the real implementations and the positive performance result campaigns prove the quality of the proposed approach and offer a reliable reference model, together with a direction for the design and deployment of future Pervasive Sensing applications.

This essay explores Steve Jobs’s true genius: the ability to engineer narrative as meticulously as hardware. Rather than focusing on the familiar “reality distortion field,” it shows how Jobs used ruthless simplification and storytelling to make products feel inevitable. It contrasts the perspectives of Laurene Powell Jobs, who absorbed his aesthetic discipline and quiet influence, with Larry Ellison, who admired his competitive audacity. Through these lenses, the piece argues that Jobs’s lasting legacy is narrative design—crafting stories that invite people to project themselves into Apple’s world while the creator fades into the background.

This paper gives a self contained description of classical IP internet protocol and ARP address resolution protocol o ver ATM asynchronous transfer mode and describes a model facilitating the implementation of the switched virtual circuit based local area network ATM subnet model. Its contents are distilled from the design and implementation of a prototype of a device driver for this particular subnet model. The work was conducted at the Computer Science Laboratory CSL at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center PARC. We outline the main features of the two technologies, establish their importance as data communication paradigms, motivate their integration, and sketch several scenarios of their interaction. We concentrate on one speci c scenario: the utilization of ATM as a logical IP subnetwork. Building blocks of this approach are the ATM address resolution protocol as a unicast server based emulation of the classical broadcast address resolution protocol, and connection management functionality a s provided by the Q.2931 protocol. The manipulation of transmitted network protocol data units between their submission to the network layer and their transmission by ATM are detailed in an appendix. These explanations are structured analogous to the lower layers in the IEEE local area network model. The complexity and intricacy of the logical IP subnetwork LIS approach motivate the development of a model describing the interaction of all participants in an LIS. The devised model is based on a nite automaton. It instruments a structured implementation and it assists in convincing the implementor of the completeness and correctness of the implementation by facilitating its gradual testing and extension.

Background: Responding to and caring for women who experience mental health problems during the perinatal period, from pregnancy up to one year after birth, is complex and requires a multidisciplinary response. Family physicians are ideally placed to provide an effective response as it is recognised that they are responsible for organising care and supports for women and their families. This paper reports an integrative review undertaken to examine family physicians' perceived role in perinatal mental health care and concludes with recommendations for health policy, research and practice. Method: A systematic search of literature in seven databases from January 2000 to March 2016 identified a total of 1125 articles. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method studies were eligible for inclusion if they explored family physicians' experiences of caring for women who experience perinatal mental health problems. Results: Thirteen articles reporting 11 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review and quality of included studies were assessed using published criteria for the critical appraisal of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Cross-study narrative syntheses of quantitative and qualitative findings are presented under three themes: identification of perinatal mental health problems, management of perinatal mental health problems and barriers to care provision. While family physicians recognise their role in relation to perinatal mental health the collective interpretation revealed that; they receive variable levels of preparation for this role, no consistent approach to screening exists, pharmacological management of mood disorders is the main treatment modality and limited access to specialist perinatal mental health services exists which impacts on pharmacology decisions. Conclusion: Family physicians require timely access to local integrated care pathways that provide a wide range of services that are culturally sensitive, perinatal mental health specific, support psychological well-being and infant/ family mental health. Family physicians are open to incorporating a brief validated screening tool into primary practice supported by succinct guidelines. Research that examines training needs in relation to perinatal mental health could be used to inform family physician training programmes and curriculum development around perinatal mental health.

The growth of service-learning in higher education is related to the way it both helps students achieve personal and academic goals and serves broader institutional goals of civic engagement for students and outreach to communities (Campus Compact 2000). This article looks closely at current research assessing the impact of academic service-learning in such areas as enhanced academic learning, instructional effectiveness, civic responsibility, appreciation of diversity, and student retention. Research has demonstrated that courses incorporating service learning components generally provide greater learning benefits than those that do not, including a deeper understanding of course material, a better understanding of the complex problems people face, and an ability to apply course material to new situations and real world problems. Research also suggests that faculty integration of service-learning pedagogy and practice enhances the achievement of curricular goals of the course, faci...

As part of a national, multi-site treatment outcome study, an instrument was designed to assess consumers_ perceptions of key services integrating trauma, mental health, and substance abuse issues, the Consumer Perceptions of Care (CPC). This study evaluates the psychometric properties of this instrument and analyzes consumers_ perceptions of the services they received. The results suggest that the measure has four factors: services integration, choice in services, trauma-informed assessment, and respect for cultural identity. These factors demonstrated adequate reliability, and the overall results suggested that the measure is a reliable, sensitive, and valid reflection of consumers_ perceptions of their services and their providers for diverse racial and ethnic groups. Women in the intervention programs perceived their services as more highly integrated for trauma, mental health, and substance use than women in the services as usual or comparison programs, supporting its utility as a measure of programs designed to provide integrated services.

This article presents field evaluation results of an IP-based architecture for heterogeneous environments, covering UMTS-like TD-CDMA (Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access) wireless access technology, wireless and wired LANs, that has been developed under the aegis of the IST Moby Dick project. The architecture treats all transmission capabilities as basic physical and data-link layers, and attempts to replace all higher-level tasks by IP-based strategies. The Moby Dick architecture incorporates mobile-IPv6, fast handover, ...

This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

T his document is a review of current research on school-based supports for students and families dealing with emotional and behavioral challenges, focusing on components of "what's working" and how those supports relate to Hawaii's system change efforts. The document is organized in seven sections • Laying the groundwork • School-based Collaborative Teaming Process • What Contributes to Success? • What Blocks Success? • Outcome Findings

This paper will attempt to deconstruct the belief that eCommerce in its current format is empowering customers. It focuses on five of the most prevalent myths surrounding eCommerce (namely that it: will revolutionise retailing, offers greater choice and convenience, offers greater access to information, enables better C2B and C2C communication, and brings about personalisation of services to consumers). The paper demonstrates that these assumptions derive from the technologically determinist school of Information Systems (IS) thinking (grounded in the myth that technology per se brings huge benefits, including wealth and empowerment), and thus merits more sophisticated consideration of the technology, providers and users. A critical epistemology is adopted, and through a series of semi-structured interviews with consumers and consideration of the wider empirical evidence the myths are deconstructed. The paper proposes that there is incongruence in online retail provision and the nee...

any universities and research sites have years of experience in applying telecommunications to education. More recently, multimedia technology has created several applications to support the educational process. Although within an internal network it's possible to find advanced high-quality tele-education services, the most common communication infrastructure for exterior sites is based on Internet and/or Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) in a point-to-point setup for video conferencing. The Internet provides no quality of service (QoS) guarantee and a low bandwidth. ISDN is expensive, difficult to integrate with local area network (LAN) communication infrastructures, and doesn't provide network multicast. The fact that only the Internet and ISDN are available for service pro-vision inhibits the development and deployment of advanced tele-education environments based on the already available and cost-effective technology. Advanced virtual reality and virtual presence applications already exist, but they require advanced communications infrastructures. Standardization bodies, telecommunications operators, content providers, and the information technology industry are working to create the basis for new applications. Such applications include remote surgery, distance learning, video and audio on demand, videoconferencing to the desktop, videophone, teleshopping, remote process control, or positioning systems. These new applications must control the QoS through bandwidth allocation, priority of flows, security, mobility, and some may require precise timing and synchronous service. Most importantly, however, they require connectivity. Hence, the infrastructure must support the applications with a predictable and user controllable performance. Currently, no global technology provides that to a satisfying degree. Emerging technologies in this area still suffer from lack of sufficient standardization, coverage, capacity, or acceptance. Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) provides a good basis for controlling quality, resources, and billing. On the other hand, ATM lacks standard applications, interoperability, international connectivity, and global deployment. For a seamless communication, the ATM networks so far don't support dynamically established connections. The Internet is independent of the underlying subnetworks, has a high level of connectivity, and an enormous drive in applications' developments. The next generation of the Internet protocol (IPv6) solved the problem of the scarcity of addresses, while at the same time incorporating some improvements to support advanced applications. The Internet has some drawbacks, as it doesn't provide a secure and reliable transmission, and it can't support synchronization and jitter control. Furthermore, it uses a packet store and a forward of full packets that implies those transmission delays will usually be higher than for ATM. Given the pros and cons of ATM and Internet protocol, it's apparent that none of the protocols will solve all the needs. But combining these two families, the requirements of most applications can be met to a satisfying degree. Emerging streaming media applications in the Internet primarily use the user datagram protocol 68

This paper describes a program designed to help court-ordered, truant, status-offenders in a small Kansas community. The Truancy Diversion Program involves systems-oriented family interventions in the context of a broader community systems approach to deal with truancy. In this model, families join with the educational system, the mental health care system, and the social services system in the treatment of truant behaviors among high school students. The paper describes the role of the school counselor prior to, during, and after court intervention. The program has been established for over fourteen years and has over 338 participants. Eighty-six percent of the families who have participated in the program have students who have remained in school. Follow-up surveys have indicated satisfaction with the program and continued positive effects within the families. School administrators have begun reporting truancy earlier, which expedites referral to the program. An additional positive outcome noted is the provision for supervised training by advanced-level graduate students, including those in school counseling who gain valuable experience in truancy intervention. Appendix A is "Truancy Diversionary Counseling Program"; Appendix B is "Truancy Diversionary Counseling Contract." (Contains 21 references.) (JDM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

Distributed systems are by now commonplace, yet remain an often difficult area of research. This is partly explained by the many facets of such systems and the inherent difficulty to isolate these facets from each other. In this paper we provide a brief overview of distributed systems: what they are, their general design goals, and some of the most common types.

Real-time Storm Surge Ensemble Modeling in a Grid Environment Lavanya Ramakrishnan1, Brian O. Blanton4, Howard M. Lander1, Richard A. Luettich, Jr.3, Daniel A. Reed1, Steven R. Thorpe2 1 Renaissance Computing Institute, 2MCNC, 3UNC Chapel Hill Institute of ...

Scand J Caring Sci; 2011; 25; 435–443 
 Yoga for chronic pain management: a qualitative exploration Objective:  To explore patients’ perceptions of their pain while participating in a weekly yoga program.Methods:  A consecutive convenience sample was recruited from a Multidisciplinary Pain Centre. Seven adult patients (six women), agreed to participate in an 8‐week Hatha yoga program, including weekly group sessions and at‐home practice. Data were gathered from participant observation and in‐depth interviews. Interviews explored the experience of practicing yoga and its relationship to the participant’s pain experience. An inductive analysis of the interviews explored emergent themes from participants’ descriptions of their experience.Results:  Analyses identified three themes: renewed awareness of the body; transformed relationship with the body in pain; and acceptance.Discussion:  Participants’ data suggested that they reframed what it meant to live with chronic pain. Some partici...

Informationsmanagement in Hochschulen ist seit geraumer Zeit auch an den deutschen Universitaten ein intensiv diskutiertes Thema. Insbesondere seit die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft eine Forderinitiative fur Leistungszentren fur Forschungsinformation gestartet hat und dabei zur Einreichung von Projekten fur ein „Integriertes Informationsmanagement an Hochschulen durch neuartige Organisationsmodelle im Verbund von Rechenzentrum, Bibliothek, Medienzentrum sowie den Informationseinrichtungen der Fachbereiche bzw. Institute“ aufgerufen hatte, gibt es die vielfaltigsten Aktivitaten. Im Artikel werden, ausgehend von einer Beschreibung der sich verandernden Welt der Informationsinfrastrukturen, Defizite des Informationsmanagements aufgezeigt und einige Ansatze fur Organisationsmodelle diskutiert.

We study the role of pricing policies in multiple service class networks. We first argue that some f o r m of serviceclass sensitive pricing is required for any multiclass service discipline' t o attain the desired level of performance. Borrowing heavily from the Nash implementation paradigm in economics, we then present an abstract formulation of service disciplines a n d pricing policies. This formulation allows us to describe more clearly the interplay between service disciplines a n d pricing policies in determining overall network performance. Effective multiclass service disciplines allow networks t o focus resources on performance sensitive applications, while effective pricing policies allow us t o spread the benefits of multiple service classes around t o all users, rather than just having these benefits remain exclusively with the users of applications that are performance sensitive. Furthermore, service disciplines a n d pricing policies combine to f o r m the incentive system facing a user; these incentives must be carefully tuned so that user self-interest leads to optimal overall network performance. Finally, we illustrate some of these concepts through simulation of several simple example networks. I n o u r simulations, we find that it is possible to set the prices so that users of every application type a r e more satisfied with the combined cost a n d performance of a network with service-class sensitive prices. For some application types the performance penalty received for requesting a less-than-optimal service class is offset by the reduced price of the service. F o r the other application types the monetary penalty incurred by using the more expensive, higher-quality service classes is offset by the improved performance they receive? ECENT research on computer networks has been con-R cemed almost exclusively with the hardware, software, and protocol standards needed to achieve better network performance. This research program has been an outstanding success. Today's computer networks link thousands of institutions and have become an indispensable part of the Manuscript

This paper considers the support of real-time applications in an Integrated Services Packet Network (ISPN). We first review the characteristics of real-time applications. We observe that, contrary to the popular view that real-time applications necessarily require a fixed delay bound, some real-time applications are more flexible and can adapt to current network conditions. We then propose an ISPN architecture that supports two distinct kinds of real-time service: guaranteed service, which is the traditional form of real-time service discussed in most of the literature and involves pre-computed worst-case delay bounds, and predicted service which uses the measure performance of the network in computing delay bounds. We then propose a packet scheduling mechanism that can support both of these real-time services as well as accommodate datagram traffic. We also discuss two other aspects of an overall ISPN architecture: the service interface and the admission control criteria.

Canada has long been criticized for its patchwork of childcare policies and programmes. In this context, parents who work nonstandard hours face additional challenges finding, affording, and maintaining stable childcare. Drawing on a purposive sample of twenty Canadian parents of young children who have nonstandard work schedules, we explore the challenges these parents face, the strategies they use, and the impacts of current childcare policies, especially for mothers. We draw on qualitative findings to show how childcare services, labour standards and employment practices must adapt to better serve Canadian families. In the context of the COVID pandemic, it is more critical than ever that policy makers and service providers appreciate that non-standard work results in extremely limited access to childcare services, even as childcare is increasingly recognized as essential to economic recovery, women's equality, and child and family well-being.

An integrated service internet running real-time and multimedia applications is rapidly becoming a reality. Meanwhile, ATM technology is appearing in the marketplace. It is an important problem to integrate ATM networks into this integrated service internet. One of the approaches, classical IP over ATM, is now widely deployed, effectively solving the problem of internetworking and interoperability. A key remaining issue is to provide quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees for internet traffic running through ATM subnets. This paper describes a priority scheme, named User Priority, for providing an IP integrated service with QoS over ATM switched virtual circuits (SVCs) to obtain better performance of packet delivery. The User Priority is defined as a three-bit field which uses a type of service (TOS) field in the IP datagram header. This yields eight different service classes with a value of 7 for the highest priority and 0 for the lowest priority. Class 6 and 7 services are for real-time traffic and have their own VCs. Packets with Classes 0 through 5 are sent an aggregate VC. This method is different from the IP over ATM scheme where only one VC is set up between two communicating IP hosts. Thus, packets can be treated differently according to their priorities such that they can enjoy the various QoS guarantees provided by ATM networks. It is backward-compatible with existing IP implementations. These newer options need only to be implemented on the end systems that want to take advantage of them.

This text gives an overview of the work of the author and his working group telos over the past 20 years and sketches the main focus of this work, i.e., creating technologies for distributed scientific resources and their intelligent retrieval.

Integrating multiple services into a single network is becoming increasingly common in today's telecommunications industry. Driven by the emergence of new applications, many of these services will be offered with guaranteed quality of service. While there are extensive studies of the engineering problems of designing integratedservices networks with guaranteed quality of service, related economic problems, such as how to price services offered by this type of network, are not well understood. In this chapter, we analyze the problem of pricing and capacity investment for an integrated-services network with guaranteed quality of service. Based on an optimal control model formulation, we develop a 3-stage procedure to determine the optimal amount of capacity and the optimal price schedule. We show that pricing a network service is similar to pricing a tangible product, except that the marginal cost of producing the product is replaced by the opportunity cost of providing the service, which includes both the opportunity cost of reserving and the opportunity cost of using network capacity. Our findings lays out a framework for making investment and pricing decisions, as well as for the analysis of related economic tradeoffs. The analysis in this chapter assumes an integrated-service network with fixedlength data units such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network. The same approach can be used to analyze variable packet length IP networks offering guaranteed quality of service through the use of protocols such as Resources reSerVation Protocol (RSVP).

Ageing societies face tough challenges namely in terms of the pressure on their healthcare and social security systems, which makes it urgent to find new models to accommodate current demographic trends. A possible answer to this challenge may come from new integrated and technology-supported services. In this direction, a European roadmapping initiative has addressed the implementation of a new vision for technological support to ageing. The main findings of this initiative are presented as a roadmap, which synthesizes the contribution of a large number of stakeholders coming from different backgrounds.

Community clouds are formed when a cloud infrastructure is created to support the needs of multiple, independent service consumers that have shared concerns. Such infrastructures may allow member organizations to share resources on an opportunistic basis, i.e., one entity may provide services to the other members during off-peak times, and may in turn consume services from other members. Thus each member provides permanent or transient services according to their competencies and excess. This paper sets forth a conceptual architecture, examines the opportunities offered by such systems, and initiates a conversation on the business implications. Community-commerce brokering expands the choices for business from "where can I buy/use a service" to "whom do I want to sell my excess services to".

Community clouds are formed when a cloud infrastructure is created to support the needs of multiple, independent service consumers that have shared concerns. Such infrastructures may allow member organizations to share resources on an opportunistic basis, i.e., one entity may provide services to the other members during off-peak times, and may in turn consume services from other members. Thus each member provides permanent or transient services according to their competencies and excess. This paper sets forth a conceptual architecture, examines the opportunities offered by such systems, and initiates a conversation on the business implications. Community-commerce brokering expands the choices for business from “where can I buy/use a service” to “whom do I want to sell my excess services to”.

The MonALISA (Monitoring Agents in a Large Integrated Services Architecture) framework provides a set of distributed services for monitoring, control, management and global optimization for large scale distributed systems. It is based on an ensemble of autonomous, multi-threaded, agent-based subsystems which are registered as dynamic services. They can be automatically discovered and used by other services or clients. The distributed agents can collaborate and cooperate in performing a wide range of management, control and global optimization tasks using real time monitoring information.

The IETF’s IP Performance Metrics (IIPM) group looks in to the definition of a Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP), defined in RFC 5357. This protocol can be considered as defining a flexible method for measuring round-trip IP performance between two end devices in a specific network that may be a wired or a wireless IP network supporting the TWAMP protocol. The TWAMP protocol has more precise and accurate results than commonly used protocol ICMP(Ping). In this study, the aim is to compare and analyze the sensitivity and accuracy of the IP network performance for TWAMP and ICMP(Ping) protocols in a saturated traffic condition. According to active measurement method, round-trip delay, jitter and packet loss values, the main criteria of end-to-end IP network performance, are measured. At the end of the real-time test process, TWAMP protocol is to be found more sensitive and convenient than ICMP(Ping) protocol for end-to-end multimedia communication.

-Increase in life expectancy and the prevalence of chronic diseases, need long term management -Technological development -allowed the relationship between patients' and healthcare professionals' to become more interactive. Professionals and patients are more involved in: -sharing responsibility related to treatment risks -negotiating the therapeutic process -Surveillance, risk prevention, self-education, self-treatment Psychological context -Patients develop experiential knowledge in coping with their disease & treatment. -Health professionals structure and adapt their practices to the changing needs. Research question & aims of the study -Promote and strengthen the Patient as Partner Approach in healthcare* -Develop and help in the implementation of this approach in the workplace (hospitals, clinics, home care, etc.). Our research question: What new competences among healthcare professional teams are integral to the patient as partner approach in chronic healthcare ? Aims of the study:  Explore the components of a partner relationship between patients and healthcare professionals  Identify what chronic healthcare professionals require (expectations and needs) from patients

Campus Quality of Service (QoS) concerns the transformation of current campuses internets into systems that can offer one or more levels of QoS. Choosing the "best" QoS will require making decisions about the relative costs of network capacity and the machinery to manage it. ...

Sequence Stratigraphy and Reservoir Evolution in the Hunton Group, Anadarko Basin The Late Ordovician-Devonian-age Hunton Group is a major oil and gas reservoir in the Anadarko Basin. The Hunton carbonates were deposited on a gentle ramp in an epeiric sea. Supratidal, intertidal and subtidal facies can be recognized in core and outcrop and are distributed subparallel to bathymetric contours. Sequence-stratigraphy concepts are directly applicable to the exploration for oil and gas in the two types of Hunton reservoirs. The first type (Type 1) forms during shallowing (progradational phase) associated with the highstand systems tract of the Henryhouse-Haragan/Bois d'Arc sequence. The second (Type 2) is associated with the intra-Hunton sequence boundary at the top of the Chimneyhill Subgroup and the pre-Woodford sequence boundary. Type 1 reservoirs are common in the Henryhouse Formation where grain-rich intertidal facies were burrowed and dolomitized. Burrowing generated a pore fluid network in the sediments. Dolomitizing fluids permeated the carbonate and preserved porosity and permeability. Subsequent dissolution removed nondolomitized fossils, creating moldic porosity. Type 2 reservoirs were impacted by meteoric diagenesis associated with sequence boundaries, in this case, the spatial relationship of the reservoir to the unconformity and flow regime were critical. Diffuse flow dissolution generated moldic porosity in grain-rich intertidal facies. Typical karst features usually developed in areas where focused flow occurred along fractures in relatively impermeable rocks. By integrating a precise understanding of the sequence stratigraphy with facies analysis and distribution, it is possible to predict the anticipated reservoir types in a prospective area and improve reserve estimates. widespread in distribution. Evaluation of over 600 geophysical logs in eastern Kansas indicate that 45 billion tons of the resource figure is less than 28 inches thick and only two billion tons of coal is in beds greater than 42 inches. Present production of coalbed methane is centered mainly in the Wilson-Montgomery County area of southeast Kansas where methane is produced from the Riverton and Weir Pittsburg coals. Baylor University, Examples of Scale-Independent Structural Models from the Arbuckle Mountains as Examples for Subsurface Interpretations Outcrop exposures of structural features in the Arbuclde Mountains are often used as "examples" for subsurface interpretations. If such examples are to be true models, it is critical to establish that such features are scale-independent. By recognition of scale independence, a structural geometry that is readily observed at one scale may be applied across several orders of magnitude. A variety of fault and fold geometries which can be demonstrated to be scale independent, and are thus useful models for subsurface interpretations include the following: 1 -Ramp and flatgeometryofthrust faults; 2 -Lateral ramps of major thrusts; 3-Berg's fold-thrust model; 4-Fault-propagation folding; 5 -Conical termination of folds. Outcrop photographs as well as surface map analysis will be presented as techniques for interpretations of these and other features. Kansas has large amounts of bituminous coal in the subsurface of eastern Kansas. Preliminary estimates indicate at least 53 billion tons of deep coal (> 100 ft.) determined from 32 coal beds. Most of this total is represented by coal beds in the Cherokee Group (Middle Pennsylvanian) in the eastern onefourth of the state. Coal beds with the largest resource totals include the Bevier, Mineral, "Aw"(unnamed coal bed), Riverton, and Weir-Pittsburg coals, all within the Cherokee Group. Coals in the southeast part of the state are generally high-volatile A bituminous coal, while coals in the east-central and northeast part of the state are high-voladle B bituminous coal to possibly higher rank in the deeper parts of the Forest City basin. These rank assessments are based on chemical analyses. Published vitrinite reflectance values indicate possible lower maturation of the coals. The primary concern of Kansas coal beds are the thin (< 2 ft.) presence of most of the beds, although the coals tend to be The Amarillo-Wichita Uplift and related structures of the Texas Panhandle and southern Oldahoma are characterized by significant vertical basement offsets. However, stratigraphic and structural evidence indicate that this vertical offset formed in response to even larger lateral offsets. Stratigraphic evidence of strike-slip deformation includes the juxtaposition of dissimilar basement terranes and inconsistent facies and isopach trends in pre-Pennsylvanian strata across the uplifts. Structural evidence includes en echelon folds and faults, simultaneous development of both extensional and compressional tectonics within the same structural belt, and abrupt vertical changes along faults. Strike-slip faulting along the axis of the former or Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen formed during the Pennsylvaman. Erosional edges of older units, which sub-crop beneath the Mississippian, provide "piercing points" which SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1997 / SHALE SHAKER 33 © OCGS -The Shale Shaker We purchase interests for cash, preferably non-operated individual and/or multi-well oil and gas properties producing a minimum average 10 BOPD per well (including gas equivalent). We will consider operations in Texas and adjacent states. Properties should have been on production more than a year, with profit margins greater than 50%. Submittals require monthly product prices and operating cost data.

Hoy en día existe una gran necesidad de mejorar la calidad de servicio (QoS) ofrecida en redes móviles Ad Hoc (Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks -MANET-) que actualmente sólo ofrecen servicio best effort. Esto posee gran impacto en las aplicaciones que se corren, las cuales generan tráficos con diferentes requerimientos de recursos de la red. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo fundamental analizar el comportamiento de la implementación de QoS en la sub capa MAC mediante 802.11e en ambientes con tráfico heterogéneo, conformado por flujos provenientes de aplicaciones multimediales y clásicas.

Background: Homeless populations with concurrent mental illness have a complex array of service needs that are often addressed in a haphazard or uncoordinated manner. Information is lacking about the effectiveness of programs and public policy in women who are both homeless and mentally ill. Objective: This study assessed the impact of gender on the outcomes of a multisite public policy intervention that implemented components of an integrated service delivery system to address the needs of mentally ill homeless men and women. Methods: A secondary analysis was performed using longitudinal data obtained from homeless men and women in the Access to Community Care and Effective Services and Supports prospective study, which was conducted at 18 sites across the United States. Outcome data from baseline, 3, 12, and 18 months across 5 annual cohorts were analyzed to determine the impact of gender on 6 clinical outcomes, including days of housing, relationships, victimization, social support, alcohol use, and drug use, in homeless men and women with mental illness. The analysis plan included multilevel modeling of longitudinal data. Results: Data were analyzed from a total of 7229 participants, including 4502 men (62%) (mean age, 38.2 years) and 2727 women (38%) (mean age, 37.2 years). After 18 months of follow-up, women had significantly better outcomes in terms of family relationships (estimated mean score increased 0.100), victimization (score decreased 0.164), and social support (score increased 0.363) than did men (all, P < 0.001). Being accompanied by children was significantly associated with less change in drug use among women compared with men (P < 0.01). These outcomes were the same across all 18 program sites. Conclusion: Although the addition of services for the homeless in conjunction with clinical and support services offered by case managers had generally positive effects in this study's population, a genderspecific substance abuse treatment intervention should also be included in a comprehensive program for homeless women with mental illness. (Gend Med. 2008i5:395-404)

This article examines the construction of diverse identities in contemporary Malaysian literature. Using one literary text, “Neighbours” by Karim Raslan (1996), the analysis shows that the characters, particularly the ancillary male character, Kassim, possesses diverse identities with ethnic identity being foregrounded over other forms of identity that are based on age, social class, gender and sexuality. However, these other forms of identity exert influence over the realization of the characters’ ethnic identity, thereby reinforcing the idea that social identities do not exist in isolation, but interact with each other in the process of identity formation and expression. This article also discusses the dilemmas and challenges that local writers face in constructing the identities of their characters and their own identities in the process, as well as the implications of using the writers’ works to discuss issues related to identity in the literature classroom.

The main barriers to the level of electronic data interchange required to seamlessly integrate services offered by legacy systems in an Internet environment are the need for applications to share a common data definition and the non-heterogeneity in database platforms. It is true that current web based services can prove effective as the foundation for small groups of collaborating organisations

We present an approach to the admission control and resource allocation problem in connection-oriented networks that offer multiple services to users. users&#39; preferences are summarized by means of their utility functions, and each user is allowed to request more than one type of service. Multiple types of resources are allocated at each link along the path of a connection. We assume that the relation between Quality of Service (QoS) and resource allocation is given, and we incorporate it as a constraint into a static optimization problem. The objective of the optimization problem is to determine the amount of and required resources for each type of service to maximize the sum of the users&#39; utilities. We prove the existence of a solution of the optimization problem and describe a competitive market economy that implements the solution and satisfies the informational constraints imposed by the nature of the decentralized resource allocation problem. The economy consists of fou...

This paper explores the constituents of and challenges related to the innovation of technology-based services in the long-term homecare sector. Methods: This research used purposeful extreme case sampling, a mixed methods approach to research that included focus groups and interviews, to learn from the experiences of an innovative telehomecare project. The paper uses a framework that integrates service management; information systems innovation and medical informatics theory. Results: The findings indicate that the claimed and the rather abstract benefits of the technology espoused by information technology vendors were difficult to transform into a service concept. The organization studied is still struggling with conflicts between technological possibilities on the one hand, and the prevailing service delivery systems and user preferences on the other. Decisions about the extent to which the service needs to be reengineered, what non-technology resources are required, what should be the role of the consumer in the new care process and identifying who is actually the primary beneficiary and user of the new service remain. Conclusions: A comprehensive development model and 'mindfulness' is necessary for radical service innovation in the long-term homecare sector. Creating new services that exploit the capability of radical technical innovations requires organizational development and the use of many non-technology innovations and resources. To understand what combinations of technological and non-technological resources can provide sustainable benefit, all key internal and external stakeholders must be involved from the beginning of the project.

A personal account is given about counseling people of color in light of the fact that training and information about multicultural counseling was not part of counselor education programs 20 years ago. Recent attendance at a graduate level course on cultural diversity prompted this counselor to consider many issues. The concept of historical hostility and the neglect of a client's history are discussed. A review is provided of historical research on the distorted development and use of various testing instruments based upon the assumption of a counselor's unexamined biases. The phenomenon of White privilege, particularly White male privilege, is highlighted. The account concludes with a discussion of the terms culture, ethnicity, and race. Questions concerning the future use of the word, "race," are considered. (JDM)

From a Venn diagram perspective, there are seven possible venues to consider when one looks at possible mixtures of services, integration and adaptation. Individually, we can have 1) a services system domain, 2) a spatially integrated system, and 3) a temporally adaptive system. When combined two at a time, we can have 4) an integrated service system, 5) an adaptive service system, and 6) a complex -integrated and adaptive -system. When all three combined, we can have 7) a complex -integrated and adaptive -service system. All seven venues are appropriately considered.

From a Venn diagram perspective, there are seven possible venues to consider when one looks at possible mixtures of services, integration and adaptation. Individually, we can have 1) a services system domain, 2) a spatially integrated system, and 3) a temporally adaptive system. When combined two at a time, we can have 4) an integrated service system, 5) an adaptive service system, and 6) a complex -integrated and adaptive -system. When all three combined, we can have 7) a complex -integrated and adaptive -service system. All seven venues are appropriately considered.