Myung-Hyun KIM,Seungkwang LEE, Vol.E107-D, No.11, pp.1449-1452
White-box cryptographic implementations often use masking and shuffling as countermeasures against key extraction attacks. To counter these defenses, higher-order Differential Computation Analysis (HO-DCA) and its variants have been developed. These methods aim to breach these countermeasures without needing reverse engineering. However, these non-invasive attacks are expensive and can be thwarted by updating the masking and shuffling techniques. This paper introduces a simple binary injection attack, aptly named clear & return, designed to bypass advanced masking and shuffling defenses employed in white-box cryptography. The attack involves injecting a small amount of assembly code, which effectively disables run-time random sources. This loss of randomness exposes the unprotected lookup value within white-box implementations, making them vulnerable to simple statistical analysis. In experiments targeting open-source white-box cryptographic implementations, the attack strategy of hijacking entries in the Global Offset Table (GOT) or function calls shows effectiveness in circumventing run-time countermeasures.
Publication Date: 2024/11/01

Cloudflare is urging the EU Commission to exclude the company from its upcoming Piracy Watch List, despite requests from several rightsholder groups for its inclusion. The American company says it's committed to addressing piracy concerns but not at the expense of user privacy and security. Instead, the European Commission should ensure that its Piracy Watch List does not become a tool for advocating policy changes.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Butterfly monitoring at local, national, regional, and global levels is the topic of the first of the GEO BON Technical Series reports produced to provide stakeholders with practical guidance for biodiversity conservation.

The report is jointly produced by GEO BON, EU BON, UNEP-WCMC, the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and Dutch Butterfly Conservation, as a follow up of a joint workshop, which took place in December 2014, to catalyse the process for the development of global butterfly monitoring guidelines and the creation of a new specialist butterfly monitoring group.

The report titled "Guidelines for Standardised Global Butterfly Monitoring" provides a suite of standard field protocols that can measure butterfly population change over various spatial and temporal scales, and that can be applied in any part of the world.

The importance of butterfly monitoring programmes lies in the fact that they provide information about population trends and changes that can be then used as indicators of biodiversity and environmental change outside of the butterfly context.

The guidelines are intended for scheme coordinators, i.e. people wishing to establish butterfly monitoring in any part of the world. The guidelines explain how to set up butterfly monitoring that can provide consistent and comparable results between sites and between years, consistent with international standards.

The ambition behind this new publication is that butterfly populations around the world are well monitored, thereby providing vital information on how these insect populations and other parts of biodiversity are changing. This information is important for feeding into local, national, regional, and global decision-making to help reduce biodiversity loss as well as raising awareness of butterflies and biodiversity in general.

Original Source:

Van Swaay, C., Regan, E., Ling, M., Bozhinovska, E., Fernandez, M., Marini-Filho, O.J., Huertas, B., Phon, C.-K., Kőrösi, A., Meerman, J., Pe’er, G., Uehara-Prado, M., Sáfián, S., Sam, L., Shuey, J., Taron, D., Terblanche, R., and Underhill, L. (2015). Guidelines for Standardised Global Butterfly Monitoring. Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network, Leipzig, Germany. GEO BON Technical Series 1, 32pp.

Charities need stability and clarity from next week’s announcement – more ambitious interventions can wait

Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, also announced an increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions and a huge rise in health spending

If you want to learn about campaigning, look to the community activists who seek no fame or fortune, just local change

Help protect construction workers from injuries caused by falling tape measures with the Gear Keeper RT4 5603 Retractable Tape Measure Tether.

Should an individual in an indoor work setting use the same preventive measures for heat stress as someone working in an outdoor setting?

How can we better measure our safety culture?

The ANSI-approved standard aligns with the enterprise security risk management (ESRM) approach, serving as a tool to safeguard cannabis organizations and their assets by taking a holistic perspective.

Austin, TX — Three out of 4 workers aren’t satisfied with their employers’ safety efforts, results of a recent survey show.

Sacramento, CA — Workers involved in setting up, tearing down and operating live events at public entertainment venues will now be required to receive specified occupational safety training and certification, under a new California law.

Silver Spring, MD – Managers hoping to improve their workplace safety climate can reference a new workbook from the Center for Construction Research and Training (also known as CPWR).

Washington — Spurred by the Feb. 3 train derailment and fire in East Palestine, OH, the freight rail industry says it’s taking several “initial steps” to improve safety.

Tumwater, WA — Washington state has adopted a permanent rule that allows the voluntary use of personal protective equipment.

Washington — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising dairy and poultry facilities to take steps to protect their workers and the public from exposure to bird flu.

Washington – Certain smartphone and tablet applications designed to measure sound levels are accurate and reliable enough to assess occupational noise exposures, according to a new NIOSH study.

When is it appropriate to use the alternative protection measures outlined in OSHA 29 CFR 1910.147 in place of standard LOTO procedures?

Atlanta — Almost three-quarters of U.S. employees are concerned about workplace safety standards and cleanliness as a protection against COVID-19, according to the results of a recent survey.

In a few weeks, we will begin publishing predictions for 2025. Prior to sharing our outlook for the year ahead, we wanted to review the predictions we made for 2024 to determine what we got right and what might not have fully taken shape.

Prior to sharing our outlook for 2025, we wanted to review the predictions we made for 2024 to determine what we got right and what might not have fully taken shape. Here, we've collected capsule information for each section of our 2024 Predictions, in areas such as sustainability, foodservice and global flavors. Within each capsule, you will find our 2024 predictions and assessments of their accuracy.

Victoria CEO Phillipe Harners reported that while the flooring sector is experiencing the most severe and longest decline in demand in the last 30 years, the company is optimizing productivity and reducing operational costs while maintaining production capacity to prepare for future demand. 

While laboratory and other manual methods have been used for years, new automated moisture measurement and control systems can play an important role in improving product quality monitoring, increasing plant efficiency, and lowering energy costs.

The post How do we measure change in contexts? was curated by information for practice.

Volume 17, Issue 1, April 2024, Page 21-34. Read the full article ›

The post Measurement invariance of the short form CES-D among old adults living alone in China was curated by information for practice.

Abstract The work of educational measurement is a highly collaborative endeavor that brings together professionals from many disciplines. While the introduction of the “Foundational Competencies in Educational Measurement” acknowledges this, the explanation of the framework itself falls short in acknowledging the competencies and skills of those from disciplines other than psychometrics, such as content development […]

The post Commentary: What Is the Breadth of “Educational Measurement?” was curated by information for practice.

The 2024 election yielded mixed results for the pro-life movement, with voters in several states supporting pro-abortion ballot measures as such referendums came up short in other states. 

US President Joe Biden may take drastic actions before he resigns, Alexander Yakovenko, a member of the scientific council at the Security Council of the Russian Federation and former Russian Ambassador to the UK believes. "Biden and his administration are still in power as a lame duck. In December 2016, Barack Obama similarly decided to sharply aggravate relations with Russia by expelling 35 Russian diplomats. The same can be expected now, especially in Ukraine,” Yakovenko said. Trump will take up US foreign affairs before his inauguration while trying to push the current administration out of decision-making processes, Yakovenko suggested.

[Domestic] :
The Seoul Metropolitan Government will enforce comprehensive measures to control traffic when the annual college entrance exam takes place on Thursday. According to city officials on Monday, work hours at public offices in the city will start an hour late at 10 a.m. Thursday to prevent exam-takers from ...

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Rotations of small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering samples during acquisition are shown to give a drastic improvement in the reliability of the characterization of anisotropic precipitates in metallic alloys.

The performance of a high-Z photon-counting detector for powder diffraction measurements at high (>50 keV) energies is characterized, and the appropriate corrections are described in order to obtain data of higher quality than have previously been obtained from 2D detectors in these energy ranges.

We explain analysis of RIXS, HERFD and XR-HERFD data to discover new physical processes in manganese and manganese-containing materials, by applying our new technique XR-HERFD, developed from high resolution RIXS and HERFD.

Nanometric precipitates in metallic alloys often have highly anisotropic shapes. Given the large grain size and non-random texture typical of these alloys, performing small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) measurements on such samples for determining their characteristics (typically size and volume fraction) results in highly anisotropic and irreproducible data. Rotations of flat samples during SAXS/WAXS acquisitions are presented here as a solution to these anisotropy issues. Two aluminium alloys containing anisotropic precipitates are used as examples to validate the approach with a −45°/45° angular range. Clear improvements can be seen on the SAXS I(q) fitting and the consistency between the different SAXS/WAXS measurements. This methodology results in more reliable measurements of the precipitate's characteristics, and thus allows for time- and space-resolved measurements with higher accuracy.

During X-ray diffraction experiments on single crystals, the diffracted beam intensities may be affected by multiple-beam X-ray diffraction (MBD). This effect is particularly frequent at higher X-ray energies and for larger unit cells. The appearance of this so-called Renninger effect often impairs the interpretation of diffracted intensities. This applies in particular to energy spectra analysed in resonant experiments, since during scans of the incident photon energy these conditions are necessarily met for specific X-ray energies. This effect can be addressed by carefully avoiding multiple-beam reflection conditions at a given X-ray energy and a given position in reciprocal space. However, areas which are (nearly) free of MBD are not always available. This article presents a universal concept of data acquisition and post-processing for resonant X-ray diffraction experiments. Our concept facilitates the reliable determination of kinematic (MBD-free) resonant diffraction intensities even at relatively high energies which, in turn, enables the study of higher absorption edges. This way, the applicability of resonant diffraction, e.g. to reveal the local atomic and electronic structure or chemical environment, is extended for a vast majority of crystalline materials. The potential of this approach compared with conventional data reduction is demonstrated by the measurements of the Ta L3 edge of well studied lithium tantalate LiTaO3.

Recently, there has been a high demand for elucidating kinetics and visualizing reaction processes under extreme dynamic conditions, such as chemical reactions under meteorite impact conditions, structural changes under non­equilibrium conditions, and in situ observations of dynamic changes. To accelerate material science studies and Earth science fields under dynamic conditions, a submillisecond in situ X-ray diffraction measurement system has been developed using a diamond anvil cell to observe reaction processes under rapidly changing pressure and temperature conditions replicating extreme dynamic conditions. The development and measurements were performed at the high-pressure beamline BL10XU/SPring-8 by synchronizing a high-speed hybrid pixel array detector, laser heating and temperature measurement system, and gas-pressure control system that enables remote and rapid pressure changes using the diamond anvil cell. The synchronized system enabled momentary heating and rapid cooling experiments up to 5000 K via laser heating as well as the visualization of structural changes in high-pressure samples under extreme dynamic conditions during high-speed pressure changes.

Superconducting undulators (SCUs) can offer a much higher on-axis undulator field than state-of-the-art cryogenic permanent-magnet undulators with the same period and vacuum gap. The development of shorter-period and high-field SCUs would allow the free-electron laser and synchrotron radiation source community to reduce both the length of undulators and the dimensions of the accelerator. Magnetic measurements are essential for characterizing the magnetic field quality of undulators for operation in a modern light source. Hall probe scanning is so far the most mature technique for local field characterization of undulators. This article focuses on the systematic error caused by thermal contraction that influences Hall probe measurements carried out in a liquid helium cryostat. A novel procedure, based on the redundant measurement of the magnetic field using multiple Hall probes at known relative distance, is introduced for the correction of such systematic error.

Deflectometric profilometers are used to precisely measure the form of beam shaping optics of synchrotrons and X-ray free-electron lasers. They often utilize autocollimators which measure slope by evaluating the displacement of a reticle image on a detector. Based on our privileged access to the raw image data of an autocollimator, novel strategies to reduce the systematic measurement errors by using a set of overlapping images of the reticle obtained at different positions on the detector are discussed. It is demonstrated that imaging properties such as, for example, geometrical distortions and vignetting, can be extracted from this redundant set of images without recourse to external calibration facilities. This approach is based on the fact that the properties of the reticle itself do not change – all changes in the reticle image are due to the imaging process. Firstly, by combining interpolation and correlation, it is possible to determine the shift of a reticle image relative to a reference image with minimal error propagation. Secondly, the intensity of the reticle image is analysed as a function of its position on the CCD and a vignetting correction is calculated. Thirdly, the size of the reticle image is analysed as a function of its position and an imaging distortion correction is derived. It is demonstrated that, for different measurement ranges and aperture diameters of the autocollimator, reductions in the systematic errors of up to a factor of four to five can be achieved without recourse to external measurements.

The diagnostics of X-ray beam properties has a critical importance at the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser facility. Besides existing diagnostic components, utilization of a diamond sensor was proposed to achieve radiation-hard, non-invasive beam position and pulse energy measurements for hard X-rays. In particular, with very hard X-rays, diamond-based sensors become a useful complement to gas-based devices which lose sensitivity due to significantly reduced gas cross-sections. The measurements presented in this work were performed with diamond sensors consisting of an electronic-grade single-crystal chemical-vapor-deposition diamond with position-sensitive resistive electrodes in a duo-lateral configuration. The results show that the diamond sensor delivers pulse-resolved X-ray beam position data at 2.25 MHz with an uncertainty of less than 1% of the beam size. To our knowledge this is the first demonstration of pulse-resolved position measurements at the MHz rate using a transmissive diamond sensor at a free-electron laser facility. It can therefore be a valuable tool for X-ray free-electron lasers, especially for high-repetition-rate machines, enabling applications such as beam-based alignment and intra-pulse-train position feedback.

Achieving diffraction-limited performance in fourth-generation synchrotron radiation sources demands monochromator crystals that can preserve the wavefront across an unprecedented extensive range. There is an urgent need for techniques of absolute crystal diffraction wavefront measurement. At the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF), a novel edge scan wavefront metrology technique has been developed. This technique employs a double-edge tracking method, making diffraction-limited level absolute crystal diffraction wavefront measurement a reality. The results demonstrate an equivalent diffraction surface slope error below 70 nrad (corresponding to a wavefront phase error of 4.57% λ) r.m.s. within a nearly 6 mm range for a flat crystal in the crystal surface coordinate. The double-edge structure contributes to exceptional measurement precision for slope error reproducibility, achieving levels below 15 nrad (phase error reproducibility < λ/100) even at a first-generation synchrotron radiation source. Currently, the measurement termed double-edge scan (DES) has already been regarded as a critical feedback mechanism in the fabrication of next-generation crystals.

Appreciating that the role of the solute–solvent and other outer-sphere interactions is essential for understanding chemistry and chemical dynamics in solution, experimental approaches are needed to address the structural consequences of these interactions, complementing condensed-matter simulations and coarse-grained theories. High-energy X-ray scattering (HEXS) combined with pair distribution function analysis presents the opportunity to probe these structures directly and to develop quantitative, atomistic models of molecular systems in situ in the solution phase. However, at concentrations relevant to solution-phase chemistry, the total scattering signal is dominated by the bulk solvent, prompting researchers to adopt a differential approach to eliminate this unwanted background. Though similar approaches are well established in quantitative structural studies of macromolecules in solution by small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS), analogous studies in the HEXS regime—where sub-ångström spatial resolution is achieved—remain underdeveloped, in part due to the lack of a rigorous theoretical description of the experiment. To address this, herein we develop a framework for differential solution scattering experiments conducted at high energies, which includes concepts of the solvent-excluded volume introduced to describe SAXS/WAXS data, as well as concepts from the time-resolved X-ray scattering community. Our theory is supported by numerical simulations and experiment and paves the way for establishing quantitative methods to determine the atomic structures of small molecules in solution with resolution approaching that of crystallography.

Here, the novel technique of extended-range high-energy-resolution fluorescence detection (XR-HERFD) has successfully observed the n = 2 satellite in manganese to a high accuracy. The significance of the satellite signature presented is many hundreds of standard errors and well beyond typical discovery levels of three to six standard errors. This satellite is a sensitive indicator for all manganese-containing materials in condensed matter. The uncertainty in the measurements has been defined, which clearly observes multiple peaks and structure indicative of complex physical quantum-mechanical processes. Theoretical calculations of energy eigenvalues, shake-off probability and Auger rates are also presented, which explain the origin of the satellite from physical n = 2 shake-off processes. The evolution in the intensity of this satellite is measured relative to the full Kα spectrum of manganese to investigate satellite structure, and therefore many-body processes, as a function of incident energy. Results demonstrate that the many-body reduction factor S02 should not be modelled with a constant value as is currently done. This work makes a significant contribution to the challenge of understanding many-body processes and interpreting HERFD or resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectra in a quantitative manner.

In crystallographic texture analysis, ensuring that sample directions are preserved from experiment to the resulting orientation distribution is crucial to obtain physical meaning from diffraction data. This work details a procedure to ensure instrument and sample coordinates are consistent when analyzing diffraction data with a Rietveld refinement using the texture analysis software MAUD. A quartz crystal is measured on the HIPPO diffractometer at Los Alamos National Laboratory for this purpose. The methods described here can be applied to any diffraction instrument measuring orientation distributions in polycrystalline materials.

Portland cements (PCs) and cement blends are multiphase materials of different fineness, and quantitatively analysing their hydration pathways is very challenging. The dissolution (hydration) of the initial crystalline and amorphous phases must be determined, as well as the formation of labile (such as ettringite), reactive (such as portlandite) and amorphous (such as calcium silicate hydrate gel) components. The microstructural changes with hydration time must also be mapped out. To address this robustly and accurately, an innovative approach is being developed based on in situ measurements of pastes without any sample conditioning. Data are sequentially acquired by Mo Kα1 laboratory X-ray powder diffraction (LXRPD) and microtomography (µCT), where the same volume is scanned with time to reduce variability. Wide capillaries (2 mm in diameter) are key to avoid artefacts, e.g. self-desiccation, and to have excellent particle averaging. This methodology is tested in three cement paste samples: (i) a commercial PC 52.5 R, (ii) a blend of 80 wt% of this PC and 20 wt% quartz, to simulate an addition of supplementary cementitious materials, and (iii) a blend of 80 wt% PC and 20 wt% limestone, to simulate a limestone Portland cement. LXRPD data are acquired at 3 h and 1, 3, 7 and 28 days, and µCT data are collected at 12 h and 1, 3, 7 and 28 days. Later age data can also be easily acquired. In this methodology, the amounts of the crystalline phases are directly obtained from Rietveld analysis and the amorphous phase contents are obtained from mass-balance calculations. From the µCT study, and within the attained spatial resolution, three components (porosity, hydrated products and unhydrated cement particles) are determined. The analyses quantitatively demonstrate the filler effect of quartz and limestone in the hydration of alite and the calcium aluminate phases. Further hydration details are discussed.

A novel in situ/operando method is introduced to measure the photon beam stability of synchrotron radiation based on orthogonal diffraction imaging of a Laue crystal/analyzer, which can decouple the energy/wavelength and Bragg angle of the photon beam using the dispersion effect in the diffraction process. The method was used to measure the energy jitter and drift of the photon beam on BL09B and BL16U at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The experimental results show that this method can provide a fast way to measure the beam stability of different light sources including bending magnet and undulator with meV-level energy resolution and ms-level time response.

Tents housing the homeless at an encampment in Echo Lake Park in Los Angeles, California on March 24, 2021.; Credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

The Los Angeles City Council votes Thursday on a proposal to ban sleeping or camping in certain parts of the city, including near schools, parks, libraries, and other “sensitive” facilities like daycares. It would also ban tents and encampments from blocking sidewalks if wheelchair users cannot access them. The motion is a departure from the city’s previous approach to the homelessness crisis.

Council members voted 12 to 3 on Tuesday to pull the draft ordinance out of Homelessness and Poverty Committee, where it had been stuck since November, and directed City Attorney Mike Feuer’s office to draft the new rules. Today on AirTalk, we’re speaking with Los Angeles Times reporter Ben Oreskes about the proposed rules, what Thursday’s vote means, and what we know about possible legal ramifications of the proposed changes. 

Guest: 

Ben Oreskes, staff writer at the Los Angeles Times; he tweets @boreskes

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.