Algebraic attacks on clock-controlled stream ciphers

We present an algebraic attack approach to a family of irregularly clock-controlled bit-based linear feedback shift register systems. In the general set-up, we assume that the output bit of one shift register controls the clocking of other registers in the system and produces a family of equations relating the output bits to the internal state bits. We then apply this general theory to four specific stream ciphers: the (strengthened) stop-and-go generator, the alternating step generator, the self-decimated generator and the step1/step2 generator. In the case of the strengthened stop-and-go generator and of the self-decimated generator, we obtain the initial state of the registers in a significantly faster time than any other known attack. In the other two situations, we do better than or as well as all attacks but the correlation attack. In all cases, we demonstrate that the degree of a functional relationship between the registers can be bounded by two. Finally, we determine the effective key length of all four systems.

Sequential technology adoption with asymmetric firms

We analyse the incentives and welfare implications of costly technology adoption in a two-period duopoly model where firms have different amounts of capital. We also extend our framework to an open economy set-up and examine the relationship between trade and technology adoption. Our findings are as follows. First, no monotone relationship exists between the threshold cost of adoption and capital shares. Second, an unequal distribution of capital, despite lessening competition, can increase total surplus. Third, trade generally encourages adoption of modern technology unless the share of capital for the adopters is too low.

Innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities with internet ventures

This paper discusses innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities of Internet ventures. In the last decade the Internet has become an important communication tool as well as a platform for new business enterprises. Internet businesses are global, easy to set up with little or no capital requirements and innovative. These businesses range from intermediary services such as financial service providers supporting online payments and e-markets facilitating buying and selling in horizontal and vertical markets, to new enterprises selling unique products. However, the Internet age has seen a rise in startup dot.coms, a failure of dot.coms and an increasing trend in consolidation of the digital economy. Entrepreneurial opportunities on the Internet are highlighted in this paper with a review of literature on entrepreneurship opportunities, characteristics and and challenges. It includes case studies demonstrating the opportunities and challenges of Internet innovations and discusses characteristics of cyber entrepreneurs identified from the case studies. The relevance of technical knowledge such as computing and programming skills, perseverance and the ability to set up business with little or no capital are important traits of cyber entrepreneurs discussed in this paper. The other issues apparent from the case studies are an opportunistic and innovative mindset, and an ability to create value where there was none before. This paper highlights that Internet ventures are a type of e-business that are easy to implement, have no barriers to entry and for which technical knowledge is an asset.

Re-emergence of the public accounting profession in China : a hegemonic analysis

This paper draws on Gramsci's concept of hegemony to examine and explain the circumstances leading to the re-emergence of the public accounting profession in China in the early 1980s. In particular, the paper attempts to understand the political and ideological influence upon the professionalisation process of the Chinese accountants. The paper not only highlights a major difference between the professionalisation process of the public accounting profession in China as compared to the West, but also the authoritative and dominant role assumed by the Chinese state in the whole societal set-up. Through effectively exercising its political and ideological leadership, the state successfully mobilised the Chinese accountants in the implementation of its economic-related agenda. The paper demonstrates that the state has clearly achieved hegemony within the accounting community, and further suggests that the state-accounting profession relationship could be likened to the father–son relationship as encompassed within the Confucian notion of wu lun.

Care : what nurses say and what nurses do

Caring is neither simply a set of attitudes or theories, nor does it comprise all that nurses do. Nursing care is determined by the way nurses use knowledge and skills to appreciate the uniqueness of the person they are caring for (changing the care noun into a caring verb). The purpose of this article is to present a range of contemporary nurse theorists' ideas on caring and to examine these ideas using the backdrop of nursing as practiced in both Australia and Canada to demonstrate a range of national and international similarities and theoretical beliefs. Caring relationships set up the conditions of trust that enable the one receiving the care to accept the help offered, underpinning the nurse-patient relationship or the therapeutic relationship. Caring is always specific and relational such as that found in the nurse-patient relationship. We believe that caring theory has much to offer nursing practice worldwide. Caring must be considered in the caring context because the nature of the caring relationship is central to most nursing interventions. Nurses need to be able to actually practice caring rather than just theorize about it-using caring theories to inform their practice.

A need for national regulation on property investment advice and marketeering - suggestions put forward

The property investment advice and marketeering industry is currently unregulated in Australia. There is no uniform national or state regulation in this area. The only protection and remedies currently available are those under the general consumer protection laws scattered in various Acts, and even so, these have numerous problems.This article sets out to argue for a new set of laws to regulate property investment advice and marketeering. In providing suggestions for reform, the article also argues that, to overcome the constitutional difficulty, a national co-operative approach is the only way to move forward in this area and suggests that a new regulator be set up to administer and enforce the new proposed laws on property investment advice and marketeering.

Correct interpretation of chemical diagrams requires transforming from one level of representation to another

17 volunteer non-major chemistry students taking an introductory university chemistry course were interviewed about their understanding of a variety of chemical diagrams. All the students' interviewed appreciated that diagrams of laboratory equipment were useful to show how to set up laboratory equipment. However students' ability to explain specific diagrams at either the macroscopic or sub-microscopic level varied greatly. The results highlighted the poor level of understanding that some students had even after completing both exercises and experiments using the diagrams. The connection between the diagrams of the macroscopic level (equipment, chemicals), the sub- microscopic level (molecular) and the symbolic level (equations) was not always considered explicitly by students. The results indicate a need for chemical diagrams to be used carefully and more explicitly to ensure learner understanding. Correspondingly, students need to interpret visual chemical diagrams using meta-visualisation skills linking the various levels of representation, and appreciating the role of the diagrams in explanations need to be developed.

Simulation of underwater robots using MS Robot Studio©

One stage in designing the control for underwater robot swarms is to confirm the control algorithms via simulation. To perform the simulation Microsoftpsilas Robotic Studiocopy was chosen. The problem with this simulator and others like it is that it is set up for land-based robots only. This paper explores one possible way to get around this limitation. This solution cannot only work for underwater vehicles but aerial vehicles as well.

Building a connected community of learners : the postgraduate peer mentor program

Student peer mentor programs are recognised as a valid component of a multi-faceted strategy to improve student engagement within higher education. This paper reports some preliminary results from research investigating how such programs help support diverse student needs in a multicultural environment. Our results are from a study of a pilot postgraduate student peer mentoring program set up to support new students in the Faculty of Business and Law at Deakin University, Australia. The postgraduate student body at Deakin is quite diverse and includes a large proportion of international students. We present examples to show how a peer mentoring program can improve the social engagement of students, help overcome cross-cultural communication barriers and contribute to the development of academic skills.

Recognizing and celebrating Xhosa traditional music in South Africa

The recognition and celebration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) as a way forward to promote democracy and inclusivity continues to be part of South Africa's nation building process. One effective platform for this to take place is through community music making as music making in Africa is a way of life. Since democracy in 1994 many initiatives were set up to explore and foster traditional music. This paper presents a brief contextualization of IKS, identity and community music making. It reports on the a Xhosa music research project (2004-2006) as an ethnographic study which is descriptive and interpretive as a holistic cultural portrait. Participants in the project included post-graduate music students, community culture bearers and academics. Only some significant aspects of the Xhose music project at the University of Fort Hare will be reported on. We contextualize the recognition and celebration of IKS within the parameters of the music and the culture of the amaMpondo within the Xhosa people. The paper specifically focuses on the ritual life of the amaMpondo. It also describes the indigenous bow instruments of the Uhadi and Umrhubhe as unique examples of South Africa's traditional music. As this initiative proved a worthy undertaking, we challenge whether such a project could strengthen local IKS elsewhere and be a pathway for tertiary institutions to engage effectively with local community music practitioners in order to prepare students effectively as holistic music educators.

The descriptive and explanatory nature of chemical diagrams does not guarantee understanding

Volunteer non-major chemistry students, taking an introductory university chemistry course (n= 17) were interviewed about their understanding of a variety of chemical diagrams. All the students’ interviewed appreciated that diagrams of laboratory equipment were useful to show how to set up laboratory equipment. However students’ ability to explain specific diagrams at either the macroscopic or sub-microscopic level varied greatly. The results highlighted the poor level of understanding that some students had even after completing both exercises and experiments using the diagrams. The connection between the diagrams of the macroscopic level (equipment), the sub-microscopic level (molecular) and the symbolic level (equations) was not always apparent to students. The results indicate a need for chemical diagrams to be used carefully and more explicitly to ensure the learner understanding.

Building social capital in groups : facilitating skill development for natural resource management

Analysis of the experiences of four farmer groups set up to learn how to jointly manage local natural resource issues shows that the groups are going though two simultaneous processes. One builds technical competency in natural resource management and the other is the underpinning social process that allows the groups to make decisions and work collectively, which builds social capital. Natural resource management practitioners and farmers are practical people. They are likely to be more comfortable with a process that develops monitoring tools and benchmarks for natural resource management than a process of group development and social capital formation. Yet the two are intrinsically linked. This paper reflects on and analyses the experience of establishing and working with farmer groups as they go through a process of identifying environmental issues, setting and monitoring environmental benchmarks and identifying and implementing sustainable farming practices to meet the benchmarks.

Two questions emerged from the analysis. First, how do the four groups compare to other measures of effective natural resource management groups? Second, what are the characteristics of the groups that make them more or less effective and what has occurred in the groups (either before or during this project) to make them more or less effective? Social capital emerges as a key determinant of group effectiveness. Social capital is most effective when it comprises a balance of bonding and bridging networks, and includes shared values in relation to the purpose of the group.

Policy makers and extension workers need to understand the link between the two simultaneous processes occurring as people come together in groups to define and implement best practice at a local level, and how to use knowledge of social processes when designing the more concrete process of developing and implementing best practice monitoring and benchmarking with groups. An understanding of how people build social capital as they work in groups will assist with designing and facilitating group projects in a range of contexts, not only natural resource management.

Australian property investment advice : an unregulated industry and the need for better consumer protection laws

Currently, consumers have no means of protecting themselves when they are looking for property investment advice in Australia. There is no uniform national or State regulation in the property investment advice and marketeering industry. The only protection and remedies currently available are those under the general consumer protection laws scattered in various Acts, and even so, these have numerous problems. This paper highlights what those problems are under the general consumer protection laws and suggests some changes to the current system. The paper also argues that a national co-operative approach is the only way to move forward in this area and suggests that the constitutional difficulty can be overcome by using the legislative conferral of state powers provision, which has often been overlooked. The paper also argues that a new regulator be set up to administer and enforce the new proposed laws on property investment advice.

Shaking hands on the fringe : negotiating the Aboriginal world at King George's Sound

In 1826 the British set up a garrison on the edges of an Aboriginal world at King George’s Sound, the site of present day Albany, Western Australia, with the aim of deterring the French from occupying the area.

The British newcomers and the area’s Indigenous inhabitants, the King Ya-nup, came to share a small space, forcing both cultures to adapt in order to communicate and interact with one another. Within this sphere associations and friendships were formed that were as surprising as they were unique.

This ethnographic history narrates several intimate cross-cultural stories of the developing relationships between British and Aboriginal individuals at King George’s Sound. The episodes recounted go beyond the common ‘friendly’ or ‘violent’ encounters, unearthing instead how and why particular King Ya-nup engaged with the British world, utilising the new presence to seeming advantage.

Shaking Hands on the Fringe presents innovative history writing and beautifully crafted prose in the tradition of Greg Dening and other writers of ethnographic history.

Despite the limited scope of the subject, the first two points liberate this book into a national (and international) interest: it is not a local book.

A blog says I am here! : Encouraging reflection on performance-making and drama practice through blogs

This chapter considers the use of social software, in particular the blog, emerging from youth web-culture as a space for groups and individuals to reflect upon performance-making processes. lt focuses on the Drama Australia VINE project, launched at the beginning of 2006 through to its conclusion at the end of2007. The VINE project brought together groups of drama students within schools, universities and the broader community to make group performances based on a common theme. Using a multi-user blogging environment, vineblogs net, groups or individuals maintained blogs of their performance-making processes. This allowed the work to l¡e shared within the VINE project community and potentially with a worldwide audience. A case study was set up involving one class of students and their teachers who were involved in the VINE project and participants were asked to reflect and comment upon the performance-making and blogging experience. The chapter considers the challenge that we face as educators to find appropriate avenues to engage young people in reflection. It considers the ways in which students engage with technology that are ofter different from their teachers. The chapter goes on to discuss how blogs can contribute to the creation of a sense of individual or group identity and recognition. It asks, 'how do blogs encourage reflection upon performance-making processes and facilitate the creating of connections and the building of community between drama students and teachers across a range of settings?' Finally the chapter describes what we've learned about blogs in drama and considers where we go from here'