Focus on FMAS

Grants - There are two psychology grants available at the university this year. ‘The SSU curriculum Fellowship’ is a year-long grant running until the 31st of July 2009. Totalling £4500, the funds will enable post-graduate study in the use of meta-reflection to enhance performance. The other is a one year grant in collaboration with Brunel University and EDS. Running from 1st September 2008 until 31st August 2009, the £100,000 grant will enable the study of cognitive perspective on analogy-based project estimation. 2.

Digital delight - An interactive on-line video designed and created by Digital Media staff and students has been selected for exhibition in Brazil later this year. The video will be displayed at the ‘Digital festival of art’ and can be viewed at www.hidrazone.com/j9.

Primary school initiative - The BA Performance degree team was commissioned by Creative Partnerships to run a drama project for students at Bevois Town Primary School. Course Leader, John Barlow planned out the six month programme which also involved Matt Fletcher and Sarah Mepham. A team of seven level 3 students undertook training workshops prior to running workshops for the school's staff. The students subsequently ran week long intensive drama workshops for each year level of the school resulting in a dramatic performance created by the students in Friday morning assemblies. The project aims to give the Bevois Town students experience of creative drama work and by working with the staff, the performance students have helped to develop the teacher’s skills in using drama within the curriculum. At the half way point the programme is running smoothly with positive feedback from the Head Teacher, members of staff and the students.

To be Frank -Level 2 Performance students staged an adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s ‘Spring Awakening’ before Christmas. The musical tells the story of a schoolboy in 19th century Germany. The production was praised by the Daily Echo and leading actor Samuel Allen received a Curtain Call Awards nomination in the category of best newcomer for his performance.

Science and Drama - Performance deputy Course leader Matt Fletcher recommended level 2 student Lauren Heward to participate in an exciting new science education project entitled Science Butlers funded by the Institute of Physics. Both Matt and Lauren performed at the BA festival of Science in Liverpool and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.

Cognitive Carolyn - Carolyn Mair, Senior Lecturer in Psychology has been busy so far this academic year, presenting a number of workshops on various cognitive issues, including discussing reflexive methodologies at King’s College London in February. Mair has also spoken at the Annaul UK software conference about cognitive psychology and its benefits to anology-based project estimation. She followed that by facilitating a discussion on detecting online identity deception in Florence, and also spoke at the 25th British Psychological Society cognitive section conference.

Jolly good Fellow - FMAS senior lecturer Tim Wilks has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and has contributed to the Art, Architecture, and Politics section of Companion to Stuart Britain (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009). The publication has been described by Blackwell Publishing as a magisterial overview of the ‘long’ seventeenth century in British history. Each chapter is written by a leading expert and offers an insight into the intense intellectual and economic transformations of the era.

Gail Force - A journalism student was thrilled to see her face all over the big screens at Times Square, as millions tuned in to Fox News to see Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration. Gail Gombya described it as the ‘best moment of her life’.

New York, New York - Sixty FMAS students visited New York in January to gain first-hand experience of American media. The group attended a live CBS broadcast, toured magazine and New York Times headquarters and visited the United Nations for a tour and media briefing.

Suitcase art -The artwork of Southampton Solent staff and students will be displayed at the Rise Gallery in Berlin, with the exhibition organized to coincide with the University’s annual European study trip. The exhibition, dubbed ‘excess baggage’, presents work and a hanging system that can fit into luggage.

Best of the UK -The Salon Gallery in West London will host the ‘Best of the UK’ exhibition in March. The work of three FMAS graduates has been shortlisted for display. John Adams-Oakley, Kelly Anderson and Nicola Lee are in contention to have their collections exhibited at the West London studio.

Life in slow motion - Chris Martin, a recent illustration graduate from Southampton Solent, is enjoying his time at Motionographer, a company that champions outstanding work from freelancers, filmmakers, animators and designers. The former student, based in North London, is applying the skills he acquired during his degree, and works primarily upon the company website http://www.motionographer.com/. Martin said he’s relishing the prospect of going to work in the morning. “I’m working with the directors, helping with the designing of projects. In fact, they gave me the job based on a map I created during the interview process. Lots of stuff you see on the website is hand drawn by me, and then projected over 3D models. I have ridiculous stacks of papers to prove it too!”

Drawn-out success - Four illustration graduates have been selected to appear in the 2009 Association of Illustrators Annual Images handbook. The publication is distributed across the World and showcases the best of British illustration and hand-drawn animation. As a result of the work produced for her final major project in level 3, Jenny Simms, who graduated in 2006, has been awarded the prestigious ‘Critics award’ from the ‘Annual Association of Illustrators’ (AOI). The accolade is a testament to the course and the university, and a fantastic achievement for Jenny so early in her career, who wins the illustrator’s equivalent of an Oscar!

(Focus on FMAS newsletter, 2009)

Southampton University investigates the biometric potential of OAE

The security industry finds itself in a no-win situation. Consumers demand quick and instant access to resources, but appear reluctant to cooperate with invasive or time-consuming identity verification. But scientists from Southampton University are aiming to change that by investigating the potential for Otoacoustic emissions (OAE) to be used as a biometric application for identification purposes. The unique three year project, which began in January 2007, is conducted by researchers from the School of Electronics and Computer Sciences is set to create a new-look personal identity verification schema. All for a research grant of just three-hundred and fifty thousand pounds – a bargain when you consider identity derived fraud reportedly costs the government nearly two billion pounds every year. So how does it work?

Well, OAE are low intensity sounds produced by our ears in response to audio stimulation and are generated by the activity of the outer hair cells. The emissions produced by the human process of amplifying low level sounds can be detected at the entrance of the ear. Evidence suggests that OAE is unique to each individual and can even be used to distinguish gender and ethnicity. Not only have OAE proven to be exclusive to a person, the characteristics depend upon the input sound in a manner that also varies between individuals. This offers particular opportunities when applying the practice as a biometric system.

Leading the investigation is Dr. Steve Beeby. He said, “We hope the project will establish OAE as a robust biometric analysis which in the future will be used to identify and verify individuals. If successful, the schema would have a significant impact on the security industry. Because a high level of classification performance can be obtained using the raw time-pressure data, the potential is there to satisfy consumer and producer demands.”

There are a number of advantages an otoacoustic-based biometric system enjoys over other forms of identity verification. Firstly, it can be embodied in a telephone handset or set of headphones, technology which everybody is familiar with and thus is socially acceptable.

Secondly, OAE can be employed in a challenge-response dialogue (whereby one party presents a question and another party must provide a valid answer such as a password to be authenticated.) The stimulus dependent nature of the OAE will increase the performance and effectiveness of the biometric. In addition, OAEs can potentially help retrieve stolen mobile phones by rendering them useless if the phone recognises the user is not the legitimate owner and subsequently disables itself.

However, there are still elements that need investigating if OAE is ever going to usurp other identity verification options. Dr Beeby said, “The potential long term drift of emissions, the influence of hearing impairments such as ear infections and the effect of external noise are issues which could affect the reliability of our results. Also, in subjects who have consumed alcohol or drugs, the emissions can be deadened or altered.

There’s still a while before OAE will become a fixture in real life security applications. First the technique will have to consistently churn out low false-match rates and prove that an individual’s recorded OAE stays recognisable over a long term period. Dr Beeby said, “There’s a lot still to do but we’re working in conjunction with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The first step is developing an on-the-ear probe that efficiently captures the emissions in a range of situations, and is acceptable to the user. We’re confident that in five to ten years the OAE biometric system will be a sufficiently developed application.”

(Smartcard News Ltd, 2009)

Interview with Georges Liberman, CEO of Xiring

You’re a leader in the healthcare market, with latest financial figures showing turnover of 2.5 million euros. What are the strengths of XIRING in this sector?

In its Health activity, XIRING is supporting the French national healthcare industry’s move to a paperless system with its terminals which can be used to generate and sign e-medical claim forms and update medical cards. The programme is designed to speed up reimbursements and support the fight against fraud by ensuring the authentication of patients, secure access to medical information and increased confidentiality of transferred data.

XIRING first entered the healthcare market in 2002, and has since developed a complete range of dedicated solutions for the French market certified by the GIE SESAM-Vitale and designed to meet the specific needs of healthcare professionals. Currently, 38% of our revenues come from healthcare. Last year, XIRING announced that over 12,500 pharmacies were using ‘le Point XIRING V2’, the company’s second generation remote service for updating the French Vitale health card. Operated by XIRING, the ‘le Point XIRING V2’ network is now one of the largest machine-to-machine GPRS networks in France.

At the start of the year XIRING announced a target turnover for 2009 of 30 million euros, is that realistic?

As a listed company on the Paris stock exchange, XIRING gives a full year forecast to the financial market once a year. At the beginning of the year, XIRING announced a target turnover for 2009 of €30 million, with a possible variation of +/- 10%, depending on the pace of banking solutions deployed in the second half of 2009, and a target operating income in excess of 7%. In April 2009, XIRING announced a turnover of €4 million as of 31 March 2009, which is in line with the company’s roadmap. To date, XIRING has always achieved, and indeed in some instances surpassed, its financial targets.

XIRING provides strong authentication solutions such as the widget for online banking. What has the widget done for security, and how will it impact on authentication in the future?

Remote Card Authentication solutions are based on the use of the EMV bank card coupled with a card reader. The card, used in the device, generates a one-time-password based on the secrets stored securely on the card’s chip, and the card cryptographic mechanism. Pocket-sized, portable EMV-compliant smart card readers offer the best answer to online authentication challenges today - at least in those countries with EMV.

XIRING has experienced particular success in the UK with its range of Home Chip and PIN readers, boosted by the introduction of the Faster Payments Services (FPS) earlier this year, as the banks’ systems were not up to the challenge of receiving a payment instruction from a variety of different channels and strongly authenticating that person to prove they are who they say they are within the 15 second transaction processing time limit introduced by FPS. In total, 21 million bank card based strong authentication solutions have been delivered in Europe to replace the static password for online banking services and to secure e-commerce payments. Of these, XIRING has issued more than 10 million solutions to date.

Are there any new products or innovations in the pipeline?

Unfortunately XIRING can’t disclose details of products to be launched this year. However, with research and development at the heart of the company, XIRING will maintain a high level of innovation and also widen its range of solutions and services to meet its customers’ expectations.

How is the international recession in the banking sector affecting your business?

First of all, it is pertinent to note that XIRING’s customers are retail banks as opposed to investment banks. Despite everyone feeling the effects of the financial crisis, retail banks must continue to equip their online banking customers with the most effective fraud protection solutions. British banks, for example, which have generally speaking been seriously impacted by the crisis, continue to equip their internet users with two-factor authentication solutions at a sustained pace. As use of the internet in continues to grow, as does internet banking, banks have an obligation to develop their online banking services and encourage growth and sales of financial products online.

What challenges has XIRING experienced as a result of the economic climate and how has the company adapted?

XIRING is keeping to its strategy, as previously touched upon. Even those at the brunt of the financial crisis in the retail banking sector still need to equip their internet banking users with appropriate fraud protection solutions. XIRING is very well positioned in this developing market space. According to Mastercard, 21 million Europeans were equipped with strong authentication solutions by the end of 2008; we expect this figure to reach 60 million by the end of 2010.

Turnover is down compared with the same period in 2008, can you return to the growth margins experienced last year?

XIRING actually outperformed the operating margin target announced at the beginning of the year 2008 (above 7%) and the revised target announced last September (above 8.5%). For the full-year 2008, operating income amounted to €3.5m. This corresponds to a margin of 12.4% on turnover and represents 62% growth, which is highly satisfactory.

Cambridge University researchers reverse-engineered card readers from NatWest and Barclays. They discovered that the technology was vulnerable to sophisticated phishing attacks. Is this a concern and how can the security be improved?

It is not a concern for us and the research has been widely discredited, including by APACS.

What does the future hold for Xiring?

XIRING has a strong presence in high growth markets. For the Healthcare market, XIRING aims to maintain its leadership position in SESAM-Vitale business solutions by building on areas of growth such as the deployment of the Vitale 2 healthcare benefit cards, upgrades to the SESAM-Vitale system architecture and the integration of additional insurance benefits. For the Banking industry, there remains strong potential for the two-factor authentication solution market and this is underpinned by the growth in e-commerce and remote banking and the associated security requirements.

(Smartcard News Ltd, 2009)

Let's face it, the Saints are sinners.

Admittedly it's not often I go to watch Southampton Football Club in action but my absence is understandable. If I wanted to be poorly entertained and surrounded by chavs I'd go to Bar Risa on a Friday night. Having said that, the current predicament in which the Saints find themselves is one of great interest and even greater controversy. As a football fan, and a resident of the city I reckon I'm allowed to have an opinion of the whole fiasco. So here goes..

Southampton are teetering on the precipice of disaster. With as many pounds in the bank as points in the bag (44 to be precise), the club is on the brink of relegation and administration. Eleven managers in twelve years, dwindling attendances and a chairman who was public enemy number one prior to his sheepish departure earlier this month. Frankly, it ain't good.

Easter Monday's clash with Crystal Palace was crucial. After a home defeat to a dead and buried Charlton side only three points would suffice. In truth, Saints don't have a bad side with several young players, such as Surman/Lallana and co, gaining an impressive reputation in the game. But reputation gets you nothing, as fellow blogger Mark Tilley pointed out in his excellent discussion of David 'twat' Bentley's performances this season.

On this occasion, Southampton toiled to victory. Apparently, Bradley Wright Phillips was dangerous throughout and ran the Eagles defence ragged. On one occasion he nicked (see what I did there?) the ball from Nick Carle in midfield, stole (pardon the pun) a march on the backtracking Rui Fonte and angled to shoot. Predictably, the finishing was criminal. (Sorry).

But the damage was done. Palace, playing their second game in three days, seemed almost as exhausted as my 'Bradley Wright-Phillips is a thieving little wanker' joke.

In the end it was a local boy who put them out of their misery, David McGoldrick rifling home from twenty-five yards. McGoldrick is one of those players, who despite being awful 90% of the time, shows the occasional flash of mediocrity and subsequently earns the tag of a 'hot young prospect'. Dave, you're not potentially brilliant, you're crap. In fact, the only time McGoldigger has lived up to his 'ruthless striker' reputation was when he punched a local outside the Giddy Bridge. Nothing like improving relations in the community, eh?

Away from the pitch, the debt collectors are looming. Southampton need a financial miracle. One possible solution is to sell the stadium to the City Council and then rent the St Mary's back. Yep, you've read that right - St Mary's will be a giant council house. A home from home for the majority of fans then.

Saturday sees a trip to Hillsborough and the first of three games for Mark Wotte's men to save their season. Will they stave off the threat of relegation? It's unlikely.

Do I want them to stay up? Fuck no.