Practical sharing of quantum secrets over untrusted channels

In this work we address the issue of sharing a quantum secret over untrusted channels between the dealer and players. Existing methods require entanglement over a number of systems which scales with the security parameter, quickly becoming impractical. We present protocols (interactive and a non-interactive) where single copy encodings are sufficient. Our protocols work for all quantum secret sharing schemes and access structures, and are implementable with current experimental set ups. For a single authorised player, our protocols act as quantum authentication protocols

A study of health and nursing services in Quincy, Massachusetts

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

GCP: Gossip-based Code Propagation for Large-scale Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) have recently received an increasing interest. They are now expected to be deployed for long periods of time, thus requiring software updates. Updating the software code automatically on a huge number of sensors is a tremendous task, as ''by hand'' updates can obviously not be considered, especially when all participating sensors are embedded on mobile entities. In this paper, we investigate an approach to automatically update software in mobile sensor-based application when no localization mechanism is available. We leverage the peer-to-peer cooperation paradigm to achieve a good trade-off between reliability and scalability of code propagation. More specifically, we present the design and evaluation of GCP ({\emph Gossip-based Code Propagation}), a distributed software update algorithm for mobile wireless sensor networks. GCP relies on two different mechanisms (piggy-backing and forwarding control) to improve significantly the load balance without sacrificing on the propagation speed. We compare GCP against traditional dissemination approaches. Simulation results based on both synthetic and realistic workloads show that GCP achieves a good convergence speed while balancing the load evenly between sensors

Explaining Change and Rethinking Dirty Words: FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc.

This report presents the results from a comparative study of the qualification of adult educators in the Nordic-Baltic region. The study involved Denmark, Estonia and Sweden. The rationale behind the study is a growing interest in adult education resulting from a focus on lifelong learning in the public and political agendas, internationally and nationally. According to the authors of the report, an increased interest in adult education generates an increased interest in the professionalisation of the adult education sector, and thereby in the qualification of those teaching adults: adult educators. Based on this belief, the study and hence the report looks into the role that the qualification of adult educators plays in policy, learning opportunities for those interested in qualifying as adult educators as well as adult educators’ status as professionals. Besides the formation of personal teaching, which is grounded in learning theory, theoretical principles and experiences from practice, the development of a professional identity plays a role in adult educators becoming professionals. Similarly, so does the recognition of adult educators as professionals by society at large. Methodologically, the study is based on document analysis. The documents selected for analysis have been: national and international research reports and articles; official descriptions of national education systems; and policy papers, laws and other legal documents dealing with adult education and/or the qualification of adult educators. The study shows that in all three countries, there has been an increase in the political interest in adult education and training. In 1993, an act on adult education and training was accepted in Estonia and updated in 2001 (Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, 1993). Four years later, in 1997, a huge reform of the adult education and training system was carried out in Sweden, and in 2000, a reform of adult and continuing education was launched in Denmark. The main drivers for the increased focus on adult education and training in all three countries seem to be the needs of the labour market, in light of globalisation and international competition as well as the Lisbon strategy. The study also shows that in spite of the increased focus on adult education and training and its importance, through out policy papers, there seems to be a lack of interest in the quality of the provision, in terms of education and learning processes, including the qualification of adult educators in Denmark and Sweden. In Estonia, a professional qualification standard for adult educators was accepted in 2004. Except for Estonia, thus, the question of qualification of adult educators is practically absent in ongoing national, political debates with respect to adult education and training. In relation to the options for those interested in qualifying as adult educators, it is difficult to find courses or education programmes offering initial education and training. Instead, most courses and education programmes either offer in-service or a combination of initial and in-service education and training. Thus, there are few opportunities for adult educators to acquire the professional knowledge and identity as adult educators, before entering the field. In addition, adult educators, to a high degree, develop their competencies as adult educators through their work. Further, qualification requirements for teaching within adult education and training vary a lot, and are linked to the specific field of adult education. Within general adult education, in all three countries, the requirements are similar to those for teachers in primary and secondary schools with no demands on specific competences in teaching adults. Within vocationally oriented adult education and training, the situation is very similar to that within general adult education, as demands for pedagogical qualifications do not include specific competences in teaching adults. Liberal adult education in all three countries stands out as the least regulated sector in relation to required pedagogical qualifications for educators. Requirements within this sector are set by each employer. Being that an individual’s professional development is tantamount to a society’s recognition of his/her occupation as a professional one, it can be discussed whether adult educators today are considered as being part of a real profession in the three countries. Based on the study, it can be concluded, that: Adult educators are absent within the policy discourse of adult education and training. Adult educators stand on the edge of a profession. Adult educators are self-taught professionals. These issues are worth further attention within both policy and research circles

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know? Hoodies in Contemporary British Horror Cinema

The late 2000s and early 2010s saw the rise of a new subgenre in British horror cinema now often referred to as hoodie horror. Government and media campaigns against antisocial behaviour or Broken Britain under Blair and Cameron’s premierships undoubtedly helped revive the stereotype of a rebellious and dangerous youth, also a great cinematic trope, which culminated with the summer riots of 2011. The enemy image of the hoodie thus gelled on and off screen around the powerful symbol of that garment. Because of the possibilities offered by genre films, the often claimed “feral” nature of these creatures is sometimes taken in a literal sense and young people from sink estates are presented as amoral and bloodthirsty monsters causing the general collapse of society. These gangs of predators appear to be fascinated by their own evil image that they proudly advertise through the use of social media. Hoodies are thus othered, but they also ironically reclaim that enemy image. Hoodie horror has sometimes been criticised because of its perceived conservative or even reactionary and/or racist overtones. Allegedly feeding on and fuelling moral panic, it may perpetuate clichés about a so-called new underclass, thereby further blurring the thin boundary between reality and fantasy for spectators. As a by-product of neoliberalism, it is deemed to depoliticise or deny the wider social context in order to better essentialise evil through the construction of a new folk devil. To a certain extent, this cycle of films does reinforce the horrific character of poor British youths, presenting them not only as culturally but also biologically different. However, this interpretation has to be mitigated. Many of these films play with the conventions of a subgenre inspired by several American models in order to somehow subvert and question the enemy image given to hoodies as they implicitly point to the society that generates, to better demonise, these new evil hordes. By putting the media and their effects into perspective, by looking at the other side i.e. the victims of hoodies (Middle England, “us”, spectators) and questioning their own values and attitudes, these films finally advocate sotto voce a discourse that is quite pessimistic but not as cynical and hostile towards these youths as expected. The worst enemy of the nation may be the excommunicators.La fin des années 2000 et le début des années 2010 ont été marqués au Royaume-Uni par la vague d’un sous-genre du cinéma d’horreur, le hoodie horror. Les campagnes médiatiques contre les incivilités, l’obsession des gouvernements Blair et Cameron envers les comportements antisociaux ont sans doute ravivé le stéréotype d’une jeunesse révoltée et dangereuse, grand classique du cinéma en général et du cinéma britannique en particulier, qui a culminé avec les émeutes de l’été 2011. L’image d’un nouvel ennemi de la nation s’est donc forgée à la ville et à l’écran autour de la symbolique dégagée par ce vêtement qu’est le sweat à capuche (hoodie). Le prisme du genre permet au cinéma de littéraliser certains éditoriaux des tabloïds en montrant des jeunes de banlieue comme des monstres amoraux et sanguinaires. Ces groupes de prédateurs semblent de plus en plus fascinés par leur propre image maléfique qu’ils diffusent sur les réseaux sociaux. Les hoodies revendiquent donc leur image d’ennemi. Ce sous-genre souffre souvent d’une mauvaise réputation car il demeure perçu comme conservateur, voire réactionnaire et raciste : il est accusé de participer à la phobie ambiante en perpétuant les clichés médiatiques à propos d’une supposée nouvelle underclass et, à ce titre, de brouiller la frontière entre réalité et fantasme. Pur produit du néolibéralisme, il chercherait comme lui à dépolitiser ou nier les problèmes sociaux pour mieux essentialiser le mal à travers la figure d’un jeune qui sert de bouc-émissaire à une société aliénée par ses dirigeants et ses médias. Dans une certaine mesure, ces films renforcent effectivement le caractère terrifiant de ces jeunes en les présentant comme différents, non seulement culturellement mais aussi biologiquement. Cependant, cette vision doit être nuancée. Nombre de ces films jouent sur les codes d’un sous-genre inspiré de plusieurs modèles américains pour subvertir quelque peu cette image de l’ennemi et dénoncer implicitement la société qui produit ces nouvelles hordes pour mieux les diaboliser. En remettant en question le rôle des médias et de leurs effets, en s’intéressant à l’autre partie, en d’autres termes aux victimes des hoodies (les classes moyennes anglaises, la majorité silencieuse, les spectateurs supposés de ces films) et en interrogeant leurs propres valeurs et attitude, ces films font passer sotto voce un discours pour le moins pessimiste mais pas aussi cynique et hostile envers ces jeunes qu’on pourrait le croire de prime abord. Les pires ennemis de la nation pourraient in fine être les excommunicateurs

A working class hero’s sidekick is something to be: sidekicks and underlings in British social realist cinema (1956-2014)

This essay focuses on the vital importance of the presence of the sidekick for the working class hero in contemporary British films. Far from being a mere underling or foil, the sidekick often reveals to be more of a double or a partner in the couple he makes with the hero. The evolution of the sidekick from the position of second to that of an alter ego seems to be confirmed by recent developments in British films which increasingly present multi-character stories. In what may be a sign of the times, the hero is then just the “first among equals” in a group of multiple sidekicks.La présence du sidekick aux côtés du working class hero se révèle d’une importance capitale dans le cinéma britannique contemporain. Loin de n’être qu’un second couteau ou un simple faire-valoir, le sidekick est souvent un double ou un compagnon au sein du couple qu’il forme avec le héros ouvrier. Ce passage d’un statut subalterne à celui d’un alter ego semble se confirmer dans les films britanniques les plus récents qui présentent de plus en plus des intrigues à personnages multiples, se rapprochant du film choral. Possible signe des temps, le héros n’est alors que primus inter pares, un sidekick parmi d’autres

(De)Constructing the Myth of the North in British Cinema (1959-2019)

The British North has featured regularly on screen since 1959. The representation of its industrial and urban features has given birth to a two-pronged mythical construction over sixty years: a geographical and a psychoanalytical/gendered one using the figure of the Northerner. Cinema is a myth and identity maker but it is also a medium which has reflected the socioeconomic evolutions of the North, first synonymous with relative prosperity and modernity until the 1980s, then decline and recession owing to deindustrialisation. Simultaneously, films try to deconstruct both the archetypal North – which ends up being geographically and socioeconomically more diverse than it first seems to be – and the figure of the Northerner – who takes his self-proclaimed image or the one that the South seeks to give him with a pinch of salt. The common identity of Northerners mostly channelled through their common aversion towards the South nonetheless leads them to reconstruct the myth of their native North.Depuis 1959, le Nord apparaît de manière récurrente dans le cinéma britannique. À travers sa dimension industrielle et urbaine, il subit sur soixante ans une double édification mythologique d’ordre géographique et psychanalytique ou sexuel/genré en mettant en avant la figure du Northerner. Si le cinéma est un forgeur de mythe et d’identité, il ne méconnaît pas pour autant les évolutions socioéconomiques de cette région d’abord synonyme de relative prospérité et de modernité puis, à partir des années 1980, de déclin et de marasme en raison de la désindustrialisation. Parallèlement, le cinéma cherche aussi à démythifier ce Nord archétypal, finalement assez pluriel du point de vue démographique et économique, et cette figure du Northerner, peu dupe de l’image qu’il se donne ou que le Sud cherche à lui donner. Toutefois l’identité commune aux Northerners qui s’exprime par leur aversion pour le Sud conduit in fine à une forme de remythification de la région