Defining Identity Crimes

The objective of this paper is to report on the definitions of the terms used and in use across different regions for identity crime, namely, identity fraud, identity theft, and identity deception. The purpose is to clarify the meaning of the terms used with a view to gaining a consensus amongst the various stakeholders. This consensus is essential to enable further research. Without consensus measurement and comparisons are meaningless. Our study of identity fraud has an industry-driven research agenda. A grounded theory research methodology is used when interviewing government agencies and private organisation participants. Interviews sought to better understand current information and communications technology (ICT) practitioners’ security and privacy issues with respect to identity fraud perpetrator attacks. We found there to be consensus among stakeholders for the meaning of identity fraud and identity theft but less agreement for identity deception

Robert Simha: Pioneer in polymer physics (1912 -- 2008)

Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Solid-phase synthesis of oxetane modified peptides

Solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) is used to create peptidomimetics in which one of the backbone amide C=O bonds is replaced by a four-membered oxetane ring. The oxetane containing dipeptide building blocks are made in three steps in solution, then integrated into peptide chains by conventional Fmoc SPPS. This methodology is used to make a range of peptides in high purity including backbone modified derivatives of the nonapeptide bradykinin and Met- and Leu-enkephalin

Staging listening: new methods for engaging audiences with sound in museums

This article reports on the experimental methodology and key findings of the AHRC-funded impact and engagement project Sonic Futures: Collecting, Curating and Engaging with Sound at the National Science and Media Museum (2020–21). The project undertook a series of listening-based public engagement activities – described here as staging listening – to identify new ways of engaging listening audiences with sound technology objects in museums. These activities led to the creation of three new interactive sounding exhibit prototypes created jointly with audiences. Because the project took place during periods of lockdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic in the UK in 2020–21, the exhibit prototypes were created digitally and tested via online interaction. The article argues that engaging with listening audiences can diversify and enrich museum listening scenarios, a term we use here to describe auditory situations which elicit different kinds of listening attention, interaction and learning. These listening scenarios produce divergent signatures of listening, a concept we develop here to describe the various kinds of learning and engagement we observed throughout the project

Amyloid-β oligomerization monitored by single-molecule stepwise photobleaching

A major hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease is the misfolding and aggregation of the amyloid- β peptide (Aβ). While early research pointed towards large fibrillar- and plaque-like aggregates as being the most toxic species, recent evidence now implicates small soluble Aβ oligomers as being orders of magnitude more harmful. Techniques capable of characterizing oligomer stoichiometry and assembly are thus critical for a deeper understanding of the earliest stages of neurodegeneration and for rationally testing next-generation oligomer inhibitors. While the fluorescence response of extrinsic fluorescent probes such as Thioflavin-T have become workhorse tools for characterizing large Aβ aggregates in solution, it is widely accepted that these methods suffer from many important drawbacks, including an insensitivity to oligomeric species. Here, we integrate several biophysics techniques to gain new insight into oligomer formation at the single-molecule level. We showcase single-molecule stepwise photobleaching of fluorescent dye molecules as a powerful method to bypass many of the traditional limitations, and provide a step-by-step guide to implementing the technique in vitro. By collecting fluorescence emission from single Aβ(1–42) peptides labelled at the N-terminal position with HiLyte Fluor 555 via wide-field total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) imaging, we demonstrate how to characterize the number of peptides per single immobile oligomer and reveal heterogeneity within sample populations. Importantly, fluorescence emerging from Aβ oligomers cannot be easily investigated using diffraction-limited optical microscopy tools. To assay oligomer activity, we also demonstrate the implementation of another biophysical method involving the ratiometric imaging of Fura-2-AM loaded cells which quantifies the rate of oligomer-induced dysregulation of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis. We anticipate that the integrated single-molecule biophysics approaches highlighted here will develop further and in principle may be extended to the investigation of other protein aggregation systems under controlled experimental conditions

Respiratory Infection in Institutions during Early Stages of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Canada

Outbreaks of respiratory infection in institutions in Ontario, Canada were studied from April 20 to June 12, 2009, during the early stages of the emergence of influenza A pandemic (H1N1) 2009. Despite widespread presence of influenza in the general population, only 2 of 83 outbreaks evaluated by molecular methods were associated with pandemic (H1N1) 2009