Populism and security in political speechmaking : the 2008 US Presidential Campaign

The issue of security has been a prominent feature of the US political landscape since the attacks of 9/11. Not surprisingly, then, issues of security, trust and credibility were raised throughout the 2008 US election presidential campaign. In the latter stages of his presidency, George W. Bush had been engaged in portraying his two terms as a successful period as national protector, keeping the US safe from further terrorist attack.Both the policy and the rhetorical strategies of the Bush administration coalesced around an emphasis on 'homeland security'. As well as producing a dominant way of asserting political legitimacy, this put in place an administrative framework within which elected legislators had to situate themselves, including the candidates for the 2008 presidential election

Mitigating smart card fault injection with link-time code rewriting: a feasibility study

We present a feasibility study to protect smart card software against fault-injection attacks by means of binary code rewriting. We implemented a range of protection techniques in a link-time rewriter and evaluate and discuss the obtained coverage, the associated overhead and engineering effort, as well as its practical usability

A szöveggenetika elmélete és gyakorlata

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Holding Schools Accountable: Is It Working?

The authors share findings from a body of research on emerging accountability systems conducted by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education

The variation of head shapes in 17-20 years old native fars male in Gorgan-North of Iran

Cephalic index and head shape are affected by geographical, gender, age and racial factors. This study carried out to determine cephalic index and head shape in 17-20 years old native Fars male in Gorgan, North of Iran. This descriptive study was done on 200 of 17-20 years old male native Fars by classic cephalometry in Gorgan, North of Iran. Mean and SD of cephalic index was 84.8 ± 6.9. The head shape of 52% of individuals was hyperbrachycephalic, 25% brachycephalic, 21.5% mesocephalic and 1.5% dolichocephalic. Native Fars individuals showed typical hyperbrachycephalic. In comparing to other studies in world, we can conclude that the role of racial/ethnic factor in cephalic diameters. © 2006 Sociedad Chilena de Anatomía

Microscopic resolution broadband dielectric spectroscopy

Results are presented for a non-contact measurement system capable of micron level spatial resolution. It utilises the novel electric potential sensor (EPS) technology, invented at Sussex, to image the electric field above a simple composite dielectric material. EP sensors may be regarded as analogous to a magnetometer and require no adjustments or offsets during either setup or use. The sample consists of a standard glass/epoxy FR4 circuit board, with linear defects machined into the surface by a PCB milling machine. The sample is excited with an a.c. signal over a range of frequencies from 10 kHz to 10 MHz, from the reverse side, by placing it on a conducting sheet connected to the source. The single sensor is raster scanned over the surface at a constant working distance, consistent with the spatial resolution, in order to build up an image of the electric field, with respect to the reference potential. The results demonstrate that both the surface defects and the internal dielectric variations within the composite may be imaged in this way, with good contrast being observed between the glass mat and the epoxy resin

Reduction of magnetostatic interactions in self-organized arrays of nickel nanowires using atomic layer deposition

Ordered arrays of magnetic nanowires are commonly synthesized by electrodeposition in nanoporous alumina templates. Due to their dense packing, strong magnetostatic interactions prevent the manipulation of wires individually. Using atomic layer deposition we reduce the diameter of the pores prior to electrodeposition. This reduces magnetostatic interactions, yielding fully remanent hysteresis loops. This is a first step towards the use of such arrays for magnetic racetrack memories

Remote monitoring of biodynamic activity using electric potential sensors

Previous work in applying the electric potential sensor to the monitoring of body electrophysiological signals has shown that it is now possible to monitor these signals without needing to make any electrical contact with the body. Conventional electrophysiology makes use of electrodes which are placed in direct electrical contact with the skin. The electric potential sensor requires no cutaneous electrical contact, it operates by sensing the displacement current using a capacitive coupling. When high resolution body electrophysiology is required a strong (capacitive) coupling is used to maximise the collected signal. However, in remote applications where there is typically an air-gap between the body and the sensor only a weak coupling can be achieved. In this paper we demonstrate that the electric potential sensor can be successfully used for the remote sensing and monitoring of bioelectric activity. We show examples of heart-rate measurements taken from a seated subject using sensors mounted in the chair. We also show that it is possible to monitor body movements on the opposite side of a wall to the sensor. These sensing techniques have biomedical applications for non-contact monitoring of electrophysiological conditions and can be applied to passive through-the-wall surveillance systems for security applications

It\u27s Not a Gotcha : Interpreting Teacher Evaluation Policy in Rural School District

This multi-case study explored how local policy actors in rural school districts interpreted new teacher evaluation policies and how state-level policy actors influenced local policy responses. In the first phase of the study, teachers and administrators in four rural school districts in two U.S. states were interviewed about new state teacher evaluation policies and their own local efforts to meet policy demands, while the study’s second phase investigated the work of state-level policy actors. Shedding light on the realities of tackling reform mandates in rural schools, the study finds that teacher evaluation policy efforts are challenged by the tension between the formative and summative purposes of teacher evaluation, that teacher evaluation policies allowing local control in system design require a significant commitment at the local level, that local actors rely on and value the work of policy intermediaries, and that interpreting teacher evaluation policy and planning for implementation can be particularly challenging in small rural school districts

Signal specific electric potential sensors for operation in noisy environments

Limitations on the performance of electric potential sensors are due to saturation caused by environmental electromagnetic noise. The work described involves tailoring the response of the sensors to reject the main components of the noise, thereby enhancing both the effective dynamic range and signal to noise. We show that by using real-time analogue signal processing it is possible to detect a human heartbeat at a distance of 40 cm from the front of a subject in an unshielded laboratory. This result has significant implications both for security sensing and biometric measurements in addition to the more obvious safety related applications