Theft in a wireless world

I explore philosophically the phenomenon of home wireless networks as used to share broadband Internet connections. Because such networks are frequently unsecured, third parties can use them to access the Internet. Here I consider carefully whether this kind of behaviour should be properly called theft. I begin with a brief non-technical introduction to 802.11 wireless networks. Subsequently, I present a four part argument – appealing to the unsecured nature of the networks discussed, entrenched software and hardware behaviours, trespass law, and the openness of ‹public park’ spectrum – suggesting that this kind of behaviour is permissible and should not be construed as theft. Substantively, I conclude that, despite the quite compelling considerations that these arguments bring to bear, this behaviour is theft. Additionally, I draw attention to significant flaws in the design and implementation of wireless technology (specifically in the out-of-the-box configuration for wireless access points and in the wireless connectivity of early versions of Windows XP) that facilitate the intentional and unintentional theft of Internet bandwidth. I suggest some simple mechanisms that could be incorporated into the technology which would serve to remove the ethical ambiguity in its usage by third parties, including adding the ability for a network owner to explicitly mark her network as not for public use,␣and changes to default hardware and software behaviours. I conclude by encouraging increased use of value-sensitive design practices in the development of future wireless technologies.     

Low-dose exercise training does not influence cardiac autonomic control in healthy sedentary men aged 55-75 years

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a realistic, feasible, and commonly used fitness training programme on cardiac autonomic control in 14 sedentary men aged 62.0 +/- 6.1 years (mean +/- s). All participants performed a one-year fitness training programme in which training intensity and frequency were specifically chosen to be compliant for the majority of the participants (2-3 sessions per week at moderate intensity). At the same time, a reference group consisting of 15 sedentary age-matched men (age 64.2 +/- 6.5 years) did not change their habitual physical activity. Measurements were performed before and after the training intervention. Cardiac autonomic control was inferred from resting values (supine and standing) of heart rate variability (HRV) computed in the frequency domain over 10-min intervals. Endurance capacity was evaluated during a maximal incremental bicycle ergometer test. In spite of an increase in peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) by 6.4% after training, heart rate in the training group remained unchanged at rest and at the same metabolic demand. No changes in resting parameters of HRV were shown for either groups or positions. Results from this study provide no evidence of a clinically meaningful increase in the vagal modulation to the sinus node at rest after one year of low-volume and moderate-intensity fitness training in men aged 55-75 years.     

On the recovery of discrete probability densities from imperfect measurements

The problem of the estimation of a discrete probability density from independent observations is considered. For a wide class of noises, a method is given for estimating a probability density when the measurements are corrupted by additive noise. This method is shown to be consistent, and several bounds on the error are given. An application to the detection of a (nonparametric) random signal is discussed. Finally, the estimation of a probability density is considered where the measurements are noisy and some of the measurements are incorrect. This situation may arise when a machine collecting the data fails part of the time.     

Interactive Instruction to Prevent Attention Problems in Class

This article reports the development and implementation of a strategy designed to bring persistent attention problems in class (off-task behaviour) under the control of teachers and students. The strategy enables the teacher to recognise the demotivating meaning that a task situation can have for a student. By pinpointing this situation in short dialogues with the student, the teacher encourages the student to make his or her own task proposal with the intention of turning the task into a feasible challenge. The strategy was designed from a cognitive-motivational interpretation of attention problems, and it is given shape in four programs for elementary schools. The theoretical frame of reference, the characteristics of the strategy, and the implementation of the programs are set out. Furthermore, an evaluation study is reported. The results indicate that teachers using the strategy can deal more effectively with students who have task behaviour problems. The students' on-task behaviour in this study increased in units of time from 60–70%. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

青年奥运会：同一个世界和民族

1 国家主义 理解我们所生活的“世界”时,从“全球”的视角或者将重点放在国家上,都会有不同的概念：即全球主义或国家主义。     

Parenting Support and the Role of Society in Parental Self‐Understanding: Furedi's Paranoid Parenting Revisited

The publication of Frank Furedi's Paranoid Parenting in 2001 was trend‐setting in the sense that it addresses parents directly in a way that is intended to be both critical and supportive, by helping parents to look through a sociological lens at their alleged predicament. Furedi's hope is that this will lead to the restoration of parental self‐confidence, which he claims to be sorely lacking in contemporary (Western?) society. I argue that such a project would be more likely to succeed if one were to hold a less dim view of the way both parents and other individuals are connected with their own society. By introducing a cultural‐hermeneutical perspective on human agency, based on a specific reading of Heidegger and Taylor, I suggest a more constructive way to reconnect parents with the ongoing conversations in their communities and to conceptualise parenting support.     

Human newborns prefer human milk: conspecific milk odor is attractive without postnatal exposure

Behavioral responses of 3- to 4-day-old newborns to the odors of various human milk (HM) and formula milk (FM) were examined in paired-choice tests. When both stimuli were nonfamiliar, breast-fed, as well as bottle-fed, infants oriented their head and mouthed more vigorously to HM than to FM. When breast-fed infants were exposed to nonfamiliar HM along with the familiar FM, their head-turning responses were undifferentiated although they mouthed more frequently to the human stimulus. When nonfamiliar HM and familiar FM were equalized in intensity, nonfamiliar HM again elicited more head orientation and mouthing responses. These results demonstrate that the odor of HM is more attractive to human newborns than FM and that this preference is independent of postnatal feeding experience.     

E-textbooks and Connectivity: Proposing an Analytical Framework

This paper is concerned with the development of e-textbooks. We claim that analysis (and design) of e-textbooks requires the development of a specific frame. Digital affordances provide particular opportunities (e.g. in terms of interactions between users) that require specific considerations for their analysis, as teachers and students use them for their individual and collective purposes. In this study, we develop a framework for mathematics e-textbook analysis, based on the notion of “connectivity.” We introduce criteria to assess the different aspects of connectivity and build an analysis grid for e-textbooks. We illustrate the framework proposed by analyzing 2 commonly used French grade 10 mathematics e-textbooks. The results of the analyses show that there are major differences between the 2 e-textbooks in terms of connectivity, which can be related to differences in their design. Beyond these 2 examples, we claim that focusing on connectivity is a useful and relevant way of analyzing e-textbooks, as it can provide a window into issues of interactivity, both practically and cognitively.