How to Explain Modern Security Concepts to your Children

International audienceAt the main cryptography conference CRYPTO in 1989, Quisquater et al. published a paper showing how to explain the complex notion of zero-knowledge proof in a simpler way that children can understand. In the same line of work, we present simple and intuitive explanations of various modern security concepts and technologies, including symmetric encryption, public key encryption, homomorphic encryption, intruder models (CPA, CCA1, CCA2) and security properties (OW, IND, NM). The explanations given in this paper may also serve in demystifying such complex security notions for non-expert adults

LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND: Approaches to Working Effectively With American Indians/ Alaska Natives

This publication was written to assist benefits planners and advocates in working more effectively with American Indian and Alaskan Native populations. The guide provides a general orientation to these indigenous populations and highlights cultural differences. It also provides more in depth information on conducting outreach and working in tandem with sovereign nations

Incorporating funds of knowledge in school gardens

Master's Project (M.Ed.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017Incorporating "funds of knowledge" with schoolyard gardening enriches a child's experience by interacting with their families, local community organizations, school faculty, and other children. A garden community is a social setting and the relationships established by working together cultivate a long-lasting commitment to education. Children are excited to learn, willing to participate, and take ownership of acquiring life skills that are fundamental to pass on from generation to generation. Incorporating "funds of knowledge" provides a venue for those inherited skill sets to be incorporated into the mainstream curriculum of the classroom. The small, yet emblematic, group of children that participated in this project at Leupp Public School were able to gain an appreciation for planting and growing a garden by being Youth Participant Action Researchers. Conducting home visits to some of the family homes also brought an invitation for increased participation in the school garden. The children incorporated their culture of gardening by learning from elders, community gardeners and their families

A Dichotomy of Conflicting Duties

This paper explores the dichotomy of a soldier’s conflicting duties found in contemporary conflicts such as Iraq or Afghanistan. These two conflicting duties, the traditional duty of kill-destroy and the mutually exhaustive duty of help-build, often collide at the tactical level in the complex environment of modern conflicts. When these two duties collide, it holds potential for tragic consequences that go beyond the tactical level where they occur and can have strategic impact

How do Perceptions of Outgroups Indicate Barriers to Civil Society in Iraq?

At the Iraq "liberation" in 2003, many of us asked, "Is there really hope for civil society to emerge from the chaos?" We guessed about how Sunni, Shi'a and Kurdish factions could be brought together, and if it was likely that ethnic conflicts would lead to civil war. Seeking a better understanding of the situation, this project tried to address: "How do Iraqis' ethnic and religious identities relate to perceptions of other groups (outgroups)?" and "how does place of residence relate to those perceptions about outgroups?" I collected 479 surveys of Iraqi opinions in Iraq, Jordan, and The Netherlands. I asked Iraqis for their own ideas about their future, personal and collective, and their perceptions of Those Other Groups, their "outgroups." What did I find? That background items of religion, ethnic origin, and location, alone, did not relate strongly to respondents’ attitudes towards outgroups. But, some combinations of background items did give significant differences in perceptions towards other groups. For example, "moderate” Arabs in Iraq were the group most opposed to foreigners, and were the group most opposed to expatriate Iraqis returning to Iraq. This project, and the follow-up project on social networks of Iraqis, presents one approach from which researchers and fieldworkers can develop theories to explore and explain elements of civil society in Iraq, and beyond. ____ Jon Gresham is a visiting scholar at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands. His work focuses on the Middle East; he worked twelve years there