We develop an evaluation framework for the validation of conformance checkers for the long-term preservation. The framework assesses the correctness, usability, and usefulness of the tools for three media types: PDF/A (text), TIFF (image), and Matroska (audio/video). Finally, we report the results of the validation of these conformance checkers using the proposed framework. In general, the presented framework is a high-level tool that can be quite easily employed in other preservation-related tasks.

Purpose - This paper describes the development of the veraPDF validator. The objective of veraPDF is to build an industry supported, open source validator for all parts and conformance levels of the PDF/A specification for archival PDF documents. The project is led by the Open Preservation Foundation and the PDF Association and is funded by the EU PREFORMA project.Design/methodology/approach - veraPDF is designed to meet the needs of the digital preservation community and the PDF industry alike. The technology is subject to the review of and acceptance by the PDF Association's PDF Validation Technical Working Group, including many participants of the relevant ISO working groups. Cultural heritage institutions are collecting ever-increasing volumes of digital information, which they have a mandate to preserve for the long term. However, in many cases, they need to ensure their content has been produced to the specifications of a standard file format, as well as any acceptance criteria stated in their institutional policy.Findings - With increasing knowledge and experience of processes and policies, cultural heritage institutions are influencing the production and development of digital preservation software. The product development funded by the PREFORMA project shows how such cooperation can benefit the community as a whole.Originality/value - This paper describes the value of an open source approach to developing a PDF/A validator for cultural heritage organisations.

This paper presents 'jpylyzer', a dedicated software tool for validation and feature extraction of JP2 (JPEG 2000 Part 1) images. We first discuss the importance of format validation, and show that for the JP2 format, current tools have deficiencies that make their use in a preservation context problematic. We describe the main characteristics of the new jpylyzer software, and provide some case studies that illustrate its utility in operational imaging workflows.

The Planets project is driven by requirements for the long-term preservation faced by institutional libraries and archives. The project develops an integrated environment that allows archivists to seamlessly utilize and evaluate tools and strategies for the preservation of cultural heritage data. The Planets Interoperability Framework (IF) supports this vision by providing the technical backbone for integrating existing content repositories, preservation tools, and services into a service-oriented research infrastructure. It implements a number of common software components for user authentication, data access, or service orchestration. Moreover, it defines the interfaces and communication protocols for preservation services like identification, characterization, migration or rendering. It thereby assures the interoperability of the various heterogeneous preservation tools and applications in order to establish a coherent and extensible preservation system. In this paper, we present the service architecture as well as the runtime environment and its application.

The Planets Project is developing a service-oriented environment for the definition and evaluation of preservation strategies for human-centric data. It focuses on the question of logically preserving digital materials, as opposed to the physical preservation of content bit-streams. This includes the development of preservation tools for the automated characterisation, migration, and comparison of different types of Digital Objects as well as the emulation of their original runtime environment in order to ensure long-time access and interpretability. The Planets integrated environment provides a number of end-user applications that allow data curators to execute and scientifically evaluate preservation experiments based on composable preservation services. In this paper, we focus on the middleware and programming model and show how it can be utilised in order to create complex preservation workflows.

We report on the implementation of a software infrastructure for preservation actions, carried out in the context of the European Integrated Project Planets - the Planets Interoperability Framework (IF). The design of the framework was driven by the requirements of logical preservation in the domain of libraries and archives. The IF is a Javabased software suite built on a number of open source components and Java standards. Specific features of interest are a web service architecture including specified preservation service interfaces for the integration of new and existing preservation tools and a workflow engine for the execution of service-based preservation plans.

We report on the implementation of a software infrastructure for preservation actions, carried out in the context of the European Integrated Project Planets – the Planets Interoperability Framework (IF). The design of the framework was driven by the requirements of logical preservation in the domain of libraries and archives. The IF is a Java-based software suite built on a number of open source components and Java standards. Specific features of interest are a web service architecture including specified preservation service interfaces for the integration of new and existing preservation tools and a workflow engine for the execution of service-based preservation plans.

AAP Annual Meeting Abstracts: Abstracts of Scientific Papers and Posters Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Academic Physiatrists: Daytona Beach, Florida March 2-4, 2006: POSTER BOARD PRESENTATIONS: Saturday, March 4, 2006

Like an old-fashioned three-legged race, the business and technology sides of any company are running today with the left leg of one tied to the right leg of the other. Some companies understand that and run well; some don't. The topexecutives interviewed in this book (see overflow page for a partial list) know where competitive leaders are headed.Winning the Three Legged Race is the first major output of the new Business Technology Management (BTM) Institute, reflecting insights from world-class experts in industry and academia. It gives enterprise, line-of-business, and IT leaders a powerful framework for optimizing areas critical to producing sustainable value from technology:1. Strategy, planning, and management.2. Technology investment.3. Strategic enterprise architecture.4. Governance and organization.For each area, the authors identify implications for ordered processes, organizational structures, information requirements, and technology. Winning the Three Legged Race introduces the BTM Maturity Model: a breakthrough benchmark for setting priorities and mapping effective change paths. The authors support their framework with up-to-the-minute data, new case studies, executive interviews, and Top 10 Action Lists that empower decision-makers to act--and get results.

A survey of length of stay among inpatients at a regional secure unit (RSU) revealed that 6.7 per cent of all admissions exceeded 2 years. The characteristics of this group were compared with those of a control group. The RSU inpatients were more likely to be the subject of restriction orders, to have committed serious offences, to be socially disadvantaged, to have been admitted from Special Hospitals and to have a long psychiatric history.Examination of this group suggests that long stays in medium security cannot be avoided. Unless RSUs are to accept that they have a brief to manage long-stay patients, it would appear that there is a need for long-stay medium secure provision if forensic services are to meet the needs of the mentally disordered offender.

A microtest, based on the principle of the rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test (RFFIT), was developed for the detection of rabies virus neutralizing antibodies. The new test, performed in the wells of microplates, combines the advantages of the RFFIT with those arising from the use of a microtechnique. The described technique favourably compares with, and is as reproducible as, the mouse neutralization test, and is recommended for the quantitative assay of rabies virus neutralizing antibodies.

Standardization of procedures leading to the identification of influenza viruses with the aid of sensitized staphylococci and also comparative studies between coaggulationation and HI during the 1976/77 influenza season are described.

Evidence is presented suggesting that the in-hibitory effect of Concanavalin A on the neuraminidase activity of various strains of influenza A virus is dependent on the juxtaposition of the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase antigens of the respective strains.