Transparent authentication methodology in electronic education

In the context of on-line assessment in e-learning, a problem arises when a student taking an exam may wish to cheat by handing over personal credentials to someone else to take their place in an exam, Another problem is that there is no method for signing digital content as it is being produced in a computerized environment. Our proposed solution is to digitally sign the participant’s work by embedding voice samples in the transcript paper at regular intervals. In this investigation, we have demonstrated that a transparent stenographic methodology will provide an innovative and practical solution for achieving continuous authentication in an online educational environment by successful insertion and extraction of audio digital signatures

From many, one: Genetic control of prolificacy during maize domestication

A reduction in number and an increase in size of inflorescences is a common aspect of plant domestication. When maize was domesticated from teosinte, the number and arrangement of ears changed dramatically. Teosinte has long lateral branches that bear multiple small ears at their nodes and tassels at their tips. Maize has much shorter lateral branches that are tipped by a single large ear with no additional ears at the branch nodes. To investigate the genetic basis of this difference in prolificacy (the number of ears on a plant), we performed a genome-wide QTL scan. A large effect QTL for prolificacy (prol1.1) was detected on the short arm of chromosome 1 in a location that has previously been shown to influence multiple domestication traits. We fine-mapped prol1.1 to a 2.7 kb “causative region” upstream of the grassy tillers1 (gt1) gene, which encodes a homeodomain leucine zipper transcription factor. Tissue in situ hybridizations reveal that the maize allele of prol1.1 is associated with up-regulation of gt1 expression in the nodal plexus. Given that maize does not initiate secondary ear buds, the expression of gt1 in the nodal plexus in maize may suppress their initiation. Population genetic analyses indicate positive selection on the maize allele of prol1.1, causing a partial sweep that fixed the maize allele throughout most of domesticated maize. This work shows how a subtle cis-regulatory change in tissue specific gene expression altered plant architecture in a way that improved the harvestability of maize

An Open Source Laboratory for Operating Systems Projects

Typical undergraduate operating systems projects use services provided by an operating system via system calls or develop code in a simulated operating system. However, with the increasing popularity of operating systems with open source code such as Linux, there are untapped possibilities for operating systems projects to modify real operating system code. We present the hardware and software configuration of an open source laboratory that promises to provide students that use it with a better understanding of operating system internals than is typically gained in a traditional operating systems course. Our preliminary projects and evaluation suggest that thus far the lab has achieved its primary goal in that students that used the lab feel more knowledgeable in operating system and more confident in their ability to write and modify operating system code

Disentangling global warming, multi-decadal variability, and El Niño in Pacific temperatures

A key challenge in climate science is to separate observed temperature changes into components due to internal variability and responses to external forcing. Extended integrations of forced and unforced climate models are often used for this purpose. Here we demonstrate a novel method to separate modes of internal variability from global warming based on differences in time scale and spatial pattern, without relying on climate models. We identify uncorrelated components of Pacific sea surface temperature variability due to global warming, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Our results give statistical representations of PDO and ENSO that are consistent with their being separate processes, operating on different time scales, but are otherwise consistent with canonical definitions. We isolate the multidecadal variability of the PDO and find that it is confined to midlatitudes; tropical sea surface temperatures and their teleconnections mix in higher‐frequency variability. This implies that midlatitude PDO anomalies are more persistent than previously thought

On the observed relationships between wintertime variability in Kuroshio-Oyashio Extension sea surface temperatures and the atmospheric circulation over the North Pacific

Observational analyses reveal that wintertime variations in sea surface temperatures (SST) in the Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension (KOE) region of the North Pacific are associated with two distinct and robust patterns of atmospheric variability: 1) a pattern that peaks in amplitude approximately 2–3 weeks prior to large KOE SST anomalies and is consistent with atmospheric forcing of the SST field and 2) a very different pattern that lags SST anomalies in the KOE region by approximately a month. The latter pattern is dominated by low sea level pressure anomalies and turbulent heat fluxes directed into the atmosphere over warm SST anomalies and is interpreted as the transient atmospheric response to SST anomalies over the KOE region. The results contribute to a growing body of evidence that suggests variations in SSTs in the midlatitude oceans are capable of significantly influencing the large-scale atmospheric circulation, especially near western boundary currents

On the Observed Relationships between Variability in Gulf Stream Sea Surface Temperatures and the Atmospheric Circulation over the North Atlantic

The advent of increasingly high-resolution satellite observations and numerical models has led to a series of advances in understanding the role of midlatitude sea surface temperature (SST) in climate variability, especially near western boundary currents (WBC). Observational analyses suggest that ocean dynamics play a central role in driving interannual SST variability over the Kuroshio–Oyashio and Gulf Stream extensions. Numerical experiments suggest that variations in the SST field within these WBC regions may have a much more pronounced influence on the atmospheric circulation than previously thought. In this study, the authors examine the observational support for (or against) a robust atmospheric response to midlatitude SST variability in the Gulf Stream extension. To do so, they apply lead–lag analysis based on daily mean data to assess the evidence for two-way coupling between SST anomalies and the atmospheric circulation on transient time scales, building off of previous studies that have utilized weekly data. A novel decomposition approach is employed to demonstrate that atmospheric circulation anomalies over the Gulf Stream extension can be separated into two distinct patterns of midlatitude atmosphere–ocean interaction: 1) a pattern that peaks 2–3 weeks before the largest SST anomalies in the Gulf Stream extension, which can be viewed as the “atmospheric forcing,” and 2) a pattern that peaks several weeks after the largest SST anomalies, which the authors argue can be viewed as the “atmospheric response.” The latter pattern is linearly independent of the former and is interpreted as the potential response of the atmospheric circulation to SST variability in the Gulf Stream extension

A Comprehensive Economic Stimulus for our Failing Economy

This paper presents a comprehensive plan to fix the ailing American economy, through a five-step approach. First, the Federal Reserve must continue to broaden the scope of monetary policy, by purchasing and selling long-term securities. Manipulating expectations through FOMC statements is another tool at the Federal Reserve’s disposal. Secondly, the government must enact fiscal stimulus to stabilize the economy in the short and medium runs, through investment in infrastructure projects, green technology, fusion technology, and science education. Additionally, the new fiscal policy must tackle the mortgage meltdown, which is weighing down the entire economy. Third, the regulatory system must be changed to reduce the likelihood of another financial collapse, starting with the nationalization of the ratings agencies. Ratings should be updated faster, with a numeric grading system rather than the pre-existing letter grades. Fourth, our globalized economy insures that a coordinated globalized response is necessary to recover. Global cooperation to reduce inflation and avoid protectionist policies is vital. Finally, the American bailout policy must be made clear, only giving bailouts to companies that are sound but financially strapped and those that are too big to fail

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the British Association for Irish Studies, 12 November 1988

Typewritten agenda for the meeting, held in London on 12 November 1988