Research project: effective academic posters and poster exhibitions

Academic posters and exhibitions look really simple, if you've never done one. Really, they offer opportunities to develop and present an interesting and complex interaction of skills

Multi-objective performance optimization of a probabilistic similarity/dissimilarity-based broadcasting scheme for mobile ad hoc networks in disaster response scenarios

Communications among crewmembers in rescue teams and among victims are crucial to relief the consequences and damages of a disaster situation. A common communication system for establishing real time communications between the elements (victims, crewmem-bers, people living in the vicinity of the disaster scenario, among others) involved in a disaster scenario is required. Ad hoc networks have been envisioned for years as a possible solution. They allow users to establish decentralized communications quickly and using common devices like mobile phones. Broadcasting is the main mechanism used to dissemi-nate information in all-to-all fashion in ad hoc networks. The objective of this paper is to optimize a broadcasting scheme based on similari-ty/dissimilarity coefficient designed for disaster response scenarios through a multi-objective optimization problem in which several per-formance metrics such as reachability, number of retransmissions and delay are optimized simultaneously

Energy Levels and Transition Probabilities for Nitrogen-Like Fe xx

Energies of the 700 lowest levels in Fexx have been obtained using the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock method. Configuration interaction method on the basis set of transformed radial orbitals with variable parameters taking into account relativistic corrections in the Breit-Pauli approximation was used to crosscheck our presented results. Transition probabilities, oscillator and line strengths are presented for electric dipole (E1), electric quadrupole (E2) and magnetic dipole (M1) transitions among these levels. The total radiative transition probabilities from each level are also provided. Results are compared with data compiled by NIST and with other theoretical work

Novel, robust and cost-effective authentication techniques for online services

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D.This thesis contributes to the study of the usability and security of visuo-cognitive authentication techniques, particularly those relying on recognition of abstract images, an area little researched. Many usability and security problems with linguistic passwords (including traditional text-based passwords) have been known for decades. Research into visually-based techniques intends to overcome these by using the extensive human capacity for recognising images, and add to the range of commercially viable authentication solutions. The research employs a mixed methodology to develop several contributions to the field. A novel taxonomy of visuo-cognitive authentication techniques is presented. This is based on analysis and synthesis of existing partial taxonomies, combined with new and extensive analysis of features of existing visuo-cognitive and other techniques. The taxonomy advances consistent terminology, and coherent and productive classification (cognometric, locimetric, graphimetric and manipulometric, based respectively on recognition of, location in, drawing of and manipulation of images) and discussion of the domain. The taxonomy is extensible to other classes of cognitive authentication technique (audio-cognitive, spatio-cognitive, biometric and token-based, etc.). A revised assessment process of the usability and security of visuo-cognitive techniques is proposed (employing three major assessment categories – usability, memorability and security), based on analysis, synthesis and refinement of existing models. The revised process is then applied to the features identified in the novel taxonomy to prove the process‘s utility as a tool to clarify both the what and the why of usability and security issues. The process is also extensible to other classes of authentication technique. iii Cognitive psychology experimental methods are employed, producing new results which show with statistical significance that abstract images are harder to learn and recall than face or object images. Additionally, new experiments and a new application of the chi-squared statistic show that users‘ choices of abstract images are not necessarily random over a group, and thus, like other cognitive authentication techniques, can be attacked by probabilistic dictionaries. A new authentication prototype is designed and implemented, embodying the usability and security insights gained. Testing of this prototype shows good usability and user acceptance, although speed of use remains an issue. A new experiment shows that abstract image authentication techniques are vulnerable to phishing attacks. Further, the testing shows two new results: that abstract image visuo-cognitive techniques are usable on mobile phones; and that such phones are not, currently, necessarily a threat as part of observation attacks on visual passwords

Book review - 'A dictionary of research concepts and issues' by Dan Remenyi

Review of A Dictionary of Research Concepts and Issues by Dan Remenyi. Published by Academic Conferences and Publishing International Ltd, 201

Extending e-government to e-society: usability lessons from the UK ID Card Trial

The United Kingdom’s Government is embarking on an ambitious project to issue 60 million citizens with a biometric identity card. The card is intended not only to provide identity checking for access to public sector services but also for private sector ones, creating a gold standard identity document for both physical and online authentication. Whilst the many technological, legal and social issues of biometric systems are widely covered, little direct evaluation of usability issues appears in academic literature. We present unique first-hand evidence concerning the usability difficulties of biometric systems, evaluating this and making recommendations on the impact usability should have on the design, implementation and accreditation of biometric identity systems which employ the Identity Card Scheme in the private sector