A brief tutorial on SCTP. Lots of explanatory diagrams, flowcharts, etc.

The IEC web site also has many other tutorials on telecom topics, including optical networking, global interconnection, DSL and cable modems, MPLS, SS7, WDM, FTTH, echo cancellation, GSM, HFC, SONET, UMTS, PCS, and much more.

"Stream control transmission protocol (SCTP) is an end-to-end, connection-oriented protocol that transports data in independent sequenced streams. SCTP endpoints support multi-homing; therefore, interface redundancy is built into the protocol. Through selective transmission mechanisms, SCTP resolves errors and buffers the data transmission process"

Tutorial: Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) | IEC

Summary from Scout Report: Research and Development in Advanced Network Technology (RADIANT) is a computer research division of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The Web site offers many publications from the five research focus groups within RADIANT: High-Performance Networking, Monitoring and Measurement, Cyber Security, Network Architecture, and Robust Systems and Networks. This material is mostly beneficial to professionals and research students specializing in these areas. The site also has links to information about job opportunities available at RADIANT, as well as the Advanced Summer Curriculum for Emerging Network Technologies (ASCENT). ASCENT is a summer internship program that accepts both undergraduate and graduate students interested in networking research.

RADIANT Research | Los Alamos Nat'l Lab

Two professors from MTSU authored this book, published in September 2001. 288 pages. (MTSU has a "department of recording industry"! Must be a Nashville/country music influence ...)

"This work presents 12 of the most volatile ethical issues facing the music industry. Real-life examples depict both sides of each controversy, and the list of resources provides tools for readers who wish to pursue the controversies further. Primary sources including court cases and excerpts from speeches help students build critical thinking skills in current issues, persuasive writing, and debate classes."

Here's the table of contents:

Money, Music, and Marketing: A Few Multinational Companies Dominate the Music Industry
From Hendrix to Cobain: The Drug Culture of Music
Music and Social Issues: Artform or Soapbox?
Parody and Sampling: Borrowing or Stealing Copyright?
Satanic Messages, the Promotion of Evil and Rock Music
The Glass Ceiling: Women in the Music Industry
Showdown at the Box Office: The Cost of Concert Tickets
Black and White Separation in Music: Marketing or Racism?
"I'll See You in Court": The Strange Relationship between Managers and Artists
Freedom of Expression: Filth or Freedom?
Radio and Records: A Love-Hate Relationship
Turn Up the Volume: Music and Hearing Loss

_Controversies of the Music Industry_

According to the new director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, biology will soon bring us materials like nothing we've seen. She says: "Biology is just exploding out there. We're actually reaching a level where you find yourself imagining questions that a year ago you couldn't even formulate."

Biomaterial World | MIT Technology Review on Bio Futures

"Security requirements for new eCommerce and Internet applications exceed the traditional requirements for network security and traditional software systems. Security requirements are more complex and increasingly critical. Informally stated and defacto requirements are often of critical importance in the design and operation of these systems, but are frequently not taken into account. The second symposium on requirements engineering for information security invites papers on a diversity of topics, particularly ones that point out new directions. Theoretical, experimental, and experience papers are all welcome."

Symposium on Requirements Engineering for Information Security

Cavazos didn't plan to go from high-tech to blue collar. But after eight months without a job, the 37-year-old Raleigh, N.C., resident had burned through his 401(k) savings and was nearing the end of unemployment insurance. He took the postal job to pay the mortgage--even though it leaves him wanting professionally. ..."

The world of the laid-off techie

"Those who took advantage of the hot economy of the 1990s to job-hop may now find themselves first on the layoff list and with fewer prospects for future employment as long as the current economic downturn lasts." ... Robert Klehm, research director at Cambridge, Mass.-based Giga Information Group: "I agree with the basic statement that the people who have jumped around have a stigma attached to them. What is the risk of laying them off, because they will probably just leave anyway?"

Study: Tech job-hoppers more likely to be laid off

"The nation's health, wealth, and security rely on ... critical infrastructures. ... [T]his reliance on computers and computer networks raises the vulnerability of the nation's critical infrastructures to cyber attacks. ..."

This 33 page report from the Congressional Research Service explains what the US gov't is doing in regard to infrastructure protection. It mentions HR 3394 which I blogged last week. In short, we are falling behind on the schedule laid out by Clinton & co. in PDD-63, both in terms of protection/prevention and in response capability. It also looks as though the feds may become involved in restoring commercial services after failures. Could this cause service providers to skimp on security and rely on the Feds to handle it?

Critical Infrastructures: Background and Early Implementation of PDD-63 [PDF]

Stuart Kauffman, founder of the Sante Fe Institute, published this book in October 2000. Scientific American called his work "deep and challenging." Amazon has 26 sample pages for browsing; take a look.

From the Amazon review: "How can you tell when a scientific theory is revolutionary? As a rule, when a distinguished scientist says he's come up with a fourth law of thermodynamics, he's wrong. Stuart Kauffman may be the exception. ..."

One of Kauffman's key concepts is that of the adjacent possible ... the set of things that are only one step away from actual existence ... a metaphysical idea with real utility.

In this book, Kauffman applies complexity theory to fundamental questions about the origin and nature of life, not just on Earth but in general. But this book is not glossy pop-science; in places the arguments become quite technical and assume the reader already knows the background, vocabulary, etc. (or knows where to find it). To sum it up in a word, though: engaging.

_Investigations_ by Stuart Kauffman

A paper, by US researchers from U. Missouri, Immerge BioTheraputics and Korean researchers, appearing in the 08 Feb 2002 issue of _Science_.

Title: Production of ... Knockout Pigs by Nuclear Transfer Cloning

Summary: Shortages in human organs for transplantation has led to consideration of other species as possible donors. The ability to use pig organs has been hampered by the presence of galactose a-1,3-galactose residues on the surface of pig cells, which result in their rejection by primate recipients, who lack the enzyme that creates this linkage. Lai et al. (p. 1089) knocked out one allele of the a-1,3-galactosyltransferase in fetal fibroblasts in vitro and then used these cells to clone transgenic pigs by nuclear transfer. The next step will be the creation of a homozygous pig that completely lacks these residues. In addition to their eventual impact in the field of xenotransplantation, these pigs serve as models for genetic modifications of the porcine genome for other medical and agricultural purposes.

Overcoming Rejection | _Science_