The Digital Police Officer using linguistic analysis to identify cybercriminals

The aim of the Digital Police Officer project (DPO) is to identify cybercriminals based on their writing style. When a criminal underground forum is closed down, cybercriminals move to another one to further their illicit business. These users do not necessarily return with the same uername. We are producing a demo that can still identify such cybercriminals. We look at the way they communicate, analysing the characteristics of forum users (i.e. based on their vocabulary and grammar) to build a linguistic fingerprin

‘Values clans’: how clusters of the electorate have shaped the political landscape

To explain the divisions which permeate UK politics, Paula Surridge, Michael Turner, Robert Struthers, and Clive McDonnell introduce an approach that takes the dimensionality of voters’ preferences more seriously; and in a second piece they illustrate the political behaviour of two of these groups in more detail

The ‘cross-pressured clans’ of British politics: a quarter of the electorate and their values

Having explained how clusters of the electorate have shaped the UK political landscape, Paula Surridge, Michael Turner, Robert Struthers, and Clive McDonnell focus on two of the most ‘cross-pressured’ of these groups. They analyse their political behaviour in order to illustrate why understanding voters according to their values on multiple dimensions rather than on the traditional ‘left-right’ divide is more crucial than ever

Individual Facial Coloration in Male Eulemur fulvus rufus: A Condition-dependent Ornament?

Researchers studying individual variation in conspicuous skin coloration in primates have suggested that color indicates male quality. Although primate fur color can also be flamboyant, the potential condition dependence and thus signaling function of fur remains poorly studied. We studied sources of variation in sexually dichromatic facial hair coloration in red-fronted lemurs (Eulemur fulvus rufus). We collected data on 13 adult males in Kirindy Forest, Madagascar, during two study periods in 2006 and 2007, to determine whether variation in facial hair coloration correlates with male age, rank, androgen status, and reproductive success. We quantified facial hair coloration via standardized digital photographs of each male, assessed androgen status using fecal hormone measurements, and obtained data on reproductive success through genetic paternity analyses. Male facial hair coloration showed high individual variation, and baseline coloration was related to individual androgen status but not to any other parameter tested. Color did not reflect rapid androgen changes during the mating season. However, pronounced long-term changes in androgen levels between years were accompanied by changes in facial hair coloration. Our data suggest that facial hair coloration in red-fronted lemur males is under proximate control of androgens and may provide some information about male quality, but it does not correlate with dominance rank or male reproductive success

Evaluating the stable isotopic composition of phosphate oxygen as a tracer of phosphorus from waste water treatment works

Eutrophication is a globally significant challenge facing freshwater ecosystems and is closely associated with anthropogenic enrichment of phosphorus (P) in the aquatic environment. Phosphorus inputs to rivers are usually dominated by diffuse sources related to farming activities and point sources such as waste water treatment works (WwTW). The limited availability of inherent labels for different P sources has constrained understanding of these triggers for eutrophication in natural systems. There have been substantial recent advances in the use of phosphate oxygen isotopes (δ18OPO4) as a way of understanding phosphate sources and processing. Results from all previous studies of the δ18OPO4 composition of WwTW effluent and septic tanks are combined together with significant new data from the UK to assess δ18OPO4 compositions in waste water sources. The overall average δ18OPO4 value is 13.9‰, ranging from 8.4 to 19.7‰. Values measured in the USA are much lower than those measured in Europe. A strong positive correlation exists between δ18OPO4 and δ18OH2O, suggesting biologically-mediated exchange between the water molecules and the phosphate ions. A comparison of δ18OPO4 and the offset from isotopic equilibrium showed a strong positive linear correlation (ρ = 0.94) for the data from Europe but no relationship for the historic USA data which may be due to recent advances in the extraction procedure or to a relative paucity of data. This offset is most strongly controlled by the δ18OH2O rather than temperature, with greater offsets occurring with lower δ18OH2O. Time series data collected over 8-24 hours for three sites showed that, although there were significant changes in the phosphate concentration, for a given WwTW the δ18OPO4 stayed relatively constant. Two new studies that considered instream processing of δ18OPO4 downstream of WwTWs showed mixing of the upstream source with effluent water but no evidence of biological cycling 3 km downstream. It is suggested that δ18OPO4 can be an effective tool to trace P from WwTWs provided the source of the effluent is known and samples are collected within a day

Abstracts from the NIHR INVOLVE Conference 2017

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Unification through coset-space dimensional reduction

The idea that nature may admit more than four spacetime dimensions was first proposed over sixty years ago. More recently, attempts to unify the fundamental forces by constructing unified Gauge Theories have met with some problems. It has become fashionable once again to hypothesise the existence of extra dimensions in order to construct alternative unification schemes. We review briefly both these areas of theoretical physics (Unified Gauge Theories and Dimensional Reduction). We then present a more detailed description of a class of dimensional reduction schemes in which the extra dimensions lie in a compact coset-space of Lie groups. We then reproduce a number of investigations carried out by the author into such schemes. In the process, a classification of all the possible ways in which such schemes can give rise to the observed gauge symmetries at electroweak energies or below is developed. Simple examples are described explicitly. Further to this, we investigate some features of the fermionic sector in such models. We deduce from two separate arguments (which nevertheless reflect similar underlying problems) that the isometry group of the compact spacetime factor must lie outside the gauge group in such a theory. Finally, we present a few examples where this is the case, highlighting the problems which have yet to be solved in an investigation of such theories. (D73138/87) eject</p

ECSES - examining crystal structures using 'e-science': a demonstrator employing web and grid services to enhance user participation in crystallographic experiments

An application of e-science methodology and grid networking technology is presented that opens up new possibilities to enhance the operation of large high-throughput service-crystallography facilities, exemplified by the UK National Crystallography Service (NCS). A seamless distributed computing approach is used to provide remote secure visualization, monitoring and interaction with the laboratory and the diffraction experiment, supervision and input to the data workup and analysis processes, and to enable dissemination and further use of the resulting structural data. The architecture of the system is based on web and grid services (in particular the use of Globus, v1.1.4), which provide a secure environment for two-way information flow and communication between the service users and operators. This capability will enhance operations of instrument and software automation by providing more efficient use of the resources, increasing the throughput of samples and enabling interactions with distributed chemistry information databases, computational services and networks. The viability of these interactions is assessed and directions for future crystallography services suggested. The setup would be equally applicable to protein or powder crystallography services

Combinatorial chemistry and the Grid

Chemistry has always made extensive use of the developing computing technology and available computing power though activities such as modelling, simulation and chemical structure interpretational - activities conveniently summarised as computational chemistry. Developing procedures in chemical synthesis and characterisation, particularly in the arena of parallel and combinatorial methodology, have generated ever increasing demands on both Computational Chemistry and Computer Technology. Significantly, the way in which networked services are being conceived to assist collaborative research pushes the use of data acquisition, remote interaction &amp; control, computation, and visualisation, well beyond the traditional computational chemistry programmes, towards the basic issue of handling chemical information and knowledge. The rate at which new chemical data can now be generated in Combinatorial and Parallel synthesis and screening processes, means that the data can only realistically be handled efficiently by increased automation of the data analysis as well as the experimentation and collection. Without this automation we run the risk of generating information without the ability to understand it

Tell me what that means to you: Small-story narratives in technology adoption

Technology adoption is often predicted based on little information such as the Perceived ease-of-use and the Perceived usefulness of the technology. Related constructs such as Attitude to use, Behavioral intention to use and External variables cannot be easily operationalised and so are often ignored. However, technology characteristics themselves fail to represent other factors such as potential adopter attitudes and how they react to the opportunities offered by the technology to meet their needs. In a series of three studies, qualitative methods were used to identify, validate and then exploit narrative themes. Based on the short narratives of potential adopters discussing their experiences with a set of cybersecurity tools, we are developing a small-story narrative framework to capture how they respond to the technology contextualised directly within their professional environment. Akin to concepts from adoption frameworks in healthcare intervention studies, we conclude that adopter’s personal response to a technology and how they make sense of it in their environment becomes evident in the narratives they create.</p