Group Signature Essay Example for Free

Group Signature Essay Group signature schemes allow a member of group to sign a message on behalf of the group anonymously and in unlinkable passion. However, a designated group manager can easily identify the signer. The signer of a valid group signature is needed to be a member of the group. These features are important in some specialized applications. This scheme is to be used in electronic business transaction. The scheme needed to satisfy six properties to be secured. These are unforgeability, anonymity, unlinkability, no framing, traceability and coalition-resistant. Mathematicians and computer scientist continues their studies to improve their proposed schemes. It is to satisfy the six properties with no doubt. Key words: group signature, unforgeability, unlinkability, no framing, traceability, coalition-resistant Group Signature Introduction The process, in which certain anonymity is needed to perform a task in spite of a collection of people or groups, is the based the concept of group signatures is born. Chaum and van Heyst first introduced this. The concept of group signature provides a member of group to sign certain messages anonymously and unlinkably on behalf of the whole group. On the other hand, a designated group manager has power to unveil the identity of the signer in cases of dispute. A group signature is verified through a series of algorithm to ensure that the signer is a member of that certain group. However, the group’s structure is still concealed and the signer can only be identified if the necessity occurs. With this features, the group signature scheme have potential application. Such applications are needed in electronic transaction that needed to be signed. The anonymity of the signer is essential to prevent others to see organizational structure of the signatory group. A group signature is needed to be secured to preserve the unlinkability and anonymity. A group signature scheme must satisfy the six properties. One is unforgeability. This is the property which ensures that only members of the group can sign on behalf of the group. This feature is necessary to make sure that invalid members or revoked members cannot sign on behalf of the group. This provides a way on which if there is dispute in a valid group signature, the group manager can easily find out who the signer is or it can be concluded that it is a member of the group when the message is signed. Number two is anonymity. This feature assures the members of the group that the identification of the signer will be hard except to the group manger. This is one of the main features of group signature. It conceals the identity of the signer. Consequently, it conceals the organizational structure of the group. The third one is unlinkability. This is feature which tells that determining whether two valid signatures were generated by a common member will be hard. This feature is necessary to go with anonymity of the signer. Since if you can identify two valid signatures coming from single member then it will easy to identify the signer. Number four is no framing. This is ensures that no member or the group manager can sign on behalf of other members. This is necessary to protect any member from a wrong identification when a dispute occurs. The fifth one is traceability. The traceability means that a group manager will be able to open a valid signature and determine the identity of member who signed it. It means that in a dispute, the group manager can easily identify the signer. Additionally, this property does not the possibility of not identifying the signer. The last one is coalition-resistant. This means a subset of members of the group or even the whole group cannot generate a valid signature on which the group manger cannot link on one of the members of the subset group. This ensures that a certain valid group signature can always be associated with a single member of the group not with subset of the group. There are many studies which ensure that the six properties are satisfied. There are many proposals of which contains algorithm that is claimed to satisfy the six properties. There are some summaries of articles of proposals and advancement in group signature. The reader would find these summaries of articles to contain dispute of other schemes. Security Remarks on a Group Signature Scheme with Member Deletion The Kim-Lim-Lee group signature scheme is scheme which claims to have a member deletion function, security and unlinkability. These claims are put into consideration because it is found to be unsecured and linkable. This will present some remarks which will prove the unsecurity and linkability of the Kim-Lim-Lee group signature scheme (Wang et al. , n. d. ). This scheme consists of different stages. These are system set up, join, delete, sign verify and open phases (Wang et al. , n. d. ). The system set-up is done by the membership manager in which he sets parameters and compute for secret and public keys. At the same time, the revocation manager selects his secret key and then computes and publishes his own public key (Wang et al. , n. d. ). At the join stage, the user who wants to join the group need undergo an interactive protocol on which he is assigned to a generated membership key and given the public key. Additionally, current members of the group update their membership key (Wang et al. , n. d. ). The deletion stage happens when a member is voluntary or involuntary leaving the group. The membership manger performs a series of algorithm and updates the group’s public key. He then computes fro the renewal public key. Here, the membership manager publishes the two new public keys. Then, every valid members of the group updates his secret property key (Wang et al. , n. d. ). In the sign stage, a member needed to sign some message. The member submits his membership key and his secret to generate the group signature (Wang et al. , n. d. ). The group signature generated in the sign stage is then subjected to verification. The verifier then uses a series of computation to verify the signature. The verification will yield a result which indicates if a valid member of the group signed it or not (Wang et al. , n. d. ). In the case of dispute, the open protocol is done. The open protocol is done to trace the identity of the signer. Only the group manager can do this (Wang et al. , n. d. ). The process of which the Kim-Lim-Lee group signature scheme under is found to be unsecured. This is due to proven accounts its security parameters is lacking in some cases. It is proven the two parameters used in the scheme are not sufficient to ensure absolute security (Wang et al. , n. d. ). The unlinkability claim of this scheme is also taken to account. The unlikability claim was proven wrong. The group signature scheme of Kim, Lim and Lee is prove to be linkable. It is proven that it easy to associate a given group signature to member of a group. This is due to invariance in the group signatures within time and even in all time periods. It means two signatures can be traced back to signer simple computational analysis (Wang et al. , n. d. ). A member deletion stage is then scrutinized by disproving the claim of which a deleted member cannot generate a valid group signature. The problem with this is identified in the process of the updating the members secret key. It is said a deleted member can simply update his secret along with other valid members since he can compute for a member secret in a given time. At the same time, a new member can get a version of his secret membership in the past time when is not yet a member (Wang et al. , n. d. ). Thus, the security of the Kim-Lim-Lee group signature scheme is proven to unreliable and unsecured. It is needed to revised and improved to satisfy the needs for a good group signature scheme (Wang et al. , n. d. ). An Efficient ID-Based Group Signature Scheme The ID-based signature scheme is proposed to be more efficient than other predecessors. The scheme is based on the process of the ID-based electronic signature. The identity-based signature uses publicly known identifier such as IP address, e-mail address and other identifiers. It is use to compute for public key component of the pair use for digital signatures, encryptions, and key agreement. The private key is computed by a trusted authority. This scheme is aimed to have better efficiency and to cope with large number of members in a group (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The identity based signature scheme is done in several phases. The set-up process is done by the trusted authority which leads to the extract phase in which the user provide the ID. The ID becomes the public key and the trusted authority returns a private key which is needed to make for the signing protocol (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The verification of an identity based signature is done by inputting the message with the signature, the parameters and a public key ID. The verify stage outputs the validity of the signature (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). There is another type of ID-based signature which is from the pairings on elliptical curves. This scheme is done to improve the efficiency of the ID-based signature processes. It is basically similar with the conventional one. However, the computations are different and more appropriate for large number of users (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The scheme use in ID-based signature is put into the context of group signatures. The set-up procedures are similar with the ID-base signature but the group public key and the secret key is computed differently. Compared to other group signature schemes the set-up stage is done more efficiently (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). In the join stage, the user sends the ID to the group manager and the group manager computes for the membership certificate and secretly sends it to the new member in a secure private channel. This process is more efficient since the stages were reduced. However, the security is still intact because of the process in the set-up stage that lessens the work at other stages (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The signing stage makes use of the public and private key pair which was generated by the user himself. The pair key is use to compute and generate the group signature. It is combined with a random number for it to be anonymous and unlinkable (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The verify stage is split in the two parts. The first part is that it verifies if the signer is definitely a member of the group. If the signature generated by the group is valid and it is signed by a member of the group, the second stage commences. It is to verify that a member signed the group signature and not the group manager (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The open stage is done when there is time that the signer needed to be identified. Like other schemes, the group manager can only do this. This process is very easy for the group manager since the manager knows the identity of the user who is associated with the group signature. This is because in the join stage the bind between the user and the manager was forged (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The ID-based group signature scheme keeps the security properties of a good group signature in tact. The identity based signature guarantees some the properties and the added processes in the group signature scheme made other necessary security measures (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The ID-based group signature from elliptic curves was derived from the identity based signature scheme. This scheme can handle a large number of members in a group without compromising the security and the efficiency of the process involved. However, the disadvantage is that the efficiency of the group signature is based on the efficiency of the identity based signature scheme it uses (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). Practical and Provably Secure Coalition-Resistant Group Signature Scheme Group signature concept is dual to the identity escrow which this scheme uses to create a coalition-resistant group signature scheme. The identity escrow can replace the membership certificate which other group signature uses. The use of identity escrow in group signatures can be regarded as group-identification scheme with revocable anonymity. This is scheme is just the second coalition-resistant group signature scheme which is an improve version of the first (Ateniese et al. , 2000, 255-270). This group signature scheme differs to other scheme in the efficiency of the join process. The user needs not to send his secret to the group manager not like other conventional schemes. The feature of which the user sends secrets to the group manager is found to be susceptible to attacks. This scheme eliminates such possibility and is proven to be coalition resistant even against adaptive adversaries (Ateniese et al. , 2000, 255-270). The model use by this scheme is somewhat similar to conventional group signature schemes. The group signature scheme undergoes several phases. These phases are the setup, join, sign, verify and in some cases open. Like the other group signature schemes every phase has algorithm need to be follow to ensure the properties to be intact (Ateniese et al. , 2000, 255-270). They only differ in the sign process as this scheme provides an interactive process between the signer and the verifier. The process is derived by replacing the call of the user to the hash function to the call to the verifier. The interactive protocol between the user and the verifier gives way to a more secure group signature (Ateniese et al. , 2000, 255-270). This scheme was proposed to have two major advantages over other conventional group signature schemes. One is the join process is more efficient than other scheme. This is since the new member just needed to provide proofs of knowledge of discrete logarithms in contrast with other schemes which requires new members to prove that a number is a product of two primes. The other advantage is that join process is more secure since it does not require the new member to send his membership secrets which is required in other schemes. Additionally, the property of being coalition resistant against adaptive is in fact an extra advantage (Ateniese et al. , 2000, 255-270). Generally, this scheme surpasses all other schemes created before it in terms of performance and security and it is proven to be coalition-resistant. It is because of the feature like spliting the group manager in two, a membership manager and a revocation manager (Ateniese et al. , 2000, 255-270). Group Signature Scheme with Revocation A number of group signature schemes had been proposed. However, these schemes don’t consider a growing membership or shrinking membership as well. In the real world, a member of a group can join, voluntary or be expelled from the group in any time. This done by other proposed schemes by not issuing changes to public keys and re-issuing group memberships. Thus, Popescu, Noje, Bede and Mang from the University of Oradea proposed a group signature scheme with revocation (Popescu et al. , 2003). There are other several group signature schemes that were proposed. However, these other proposed schemes lacked in efficiency and other others in security. There is a scheme which was proved to be efficient and secured but it requires time periods which any and all verifiers must know, thus requires more time in the verification stage (Popescu et al. , 2003). They proposed a group signature scheme in which every step or phase is different from other group signature schemes. It consists of different computational procedures (Popescu et al. , 2003). In the setup procedure, the group manager needs to undergo several steps which will yield the public key P, the secret key S and a group membership certificate consisting of two integers X and ? satisfying a certain equation which relates the two integers (Popescu et al. , 2003). In the join stage, a user wants to join a group. The scheme requires a secure and private communication between the group manager and the user to protect the anonymity of the user. The user chooses an element from a set formed by the parameters set by the group manager. From the chosen element the user will compute and send an ID which he needs to prove before he chooses a random number from a designated set. The group and the user computes and send computation results to each other until the user received his membership certificate. After this process, only the user knows his membership certificate and that the group manager only registers the ID of the user in the data base which was obtained in the first computation (Popescu et al. , 2003). The user is then allowed to sign to represent the whole group. At the signing process, the user can create a group signature inside a message by computation. The computation starts with the computation with his membership certificate. The user is the only one who knows his membership certificate so he remains anonymous to others. The group signature is then sent to the verifier for verification (Popescu et al. , 2003). In the verification phase, the resulting signature inside a message is verified through a series of computations in which the check the proof of equality between the double discrete logarithm of F (a part of the signature) and the discrete logarithm of D’s representation base on the element of the set that the group manager defined in the setup process. If it is equal the verifier concludes that the user who signed the group signature is a member of the group (Popescu et al. , 2003). When the time comes when it is needed to know who signs the message containing the group signature. He can do this by checking the correctness of the group signature. If it is incorrect, the group managers abort the process. Other wise, the group manager recovers a certain ID in the database and prove that the ID is relative to the D (a part of the group signature) (Popescu et al. , 2003). When a member of the leaves the group the group performs a series of algorithm which will result to the publication of the revocation status of a user in the Certificate Revocation List which was assumed to be available at all times in a well-known public servers. The CRL is also assumed to be signed by the issuer, the group manager or other trusted party (Popescu et al. , 2003). In this scheme, there are strong considerations in the security as provided different calculations that ensure the impossibility of some scenarios that compromises the anonymity of the members of the group. Furthermore, the cost of the revoke process is linear to the number of revoked members. Additionally, this scheme provides fixed signature size and constant work of the signers which makes it more practical than other group signature schemes. However, the opening process of this scheme can result to hundred of exponentiations per signature due to the proofs involving double discrete logarithms (Popescu et al. , 2003). Quasi-Efficient Revocation of Group Signatures This scheme is specified to address the inefficient and unsecured revocation methods use by other group signature scheme. The security of a group signature is not met if it uses an inefficient way of revocation. Additionally, the quasi-efficient revocation methods provide a practical public keys and signatures (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). The importance of a good revocation method is seen in groups with shrinking number of members. The security of the group is compromised if the revocation process is not well established since a revoked member can still sign in spite of the group (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). There are a number of group signature scheme which provides good revocation methods but they need to use synchronized clocks and the signature size is relative to the number of revoked members. The use of loosely synchronized clocks in revocation of membership needs to notify all existing members about the revocation. It modifies the membership certificate of all members and consequently, affects the size of group signature generated (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). This revocation method is made in line with the ACJT signature scheme. The revocation methods can only be done by revising the backward unlinkability to unconditional unlinkability. However, the easiest way of revocation is reissuing of the membership certificates and regenerating the public key. This costs a lot of work to the group manager and the members since they have to repeat parts of the join process. Additionally, the verifiers need to be informed of the changes. However, there is a way to eliminate this inconvenience by generating public keys and membership certificates automatically. This is will eliminate the interactive process between the manager and the members. On the other hand, it has impracticality in the process since it requires issuance of new certificates to existing members (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). The efficient way to overcome this problem is to avoid issuing new membership certificates in the event of revocation of a member. This is done in some scheme in which they use a Certificate Revocation List (CRL). However, the scheme’s group signature presented contains an encrypted version of the CRL. It is necessary to prevent the linking of the group signatures. However, the problem is resolved here by including the latest CRL to the group public key in which the unlinkability is preserved (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). The efficiency of this scheme is measured by the size of the signature, the signer cost, verifier cost, CRL size, and the CRL issuance cause. This scheme had passed all requirements since it minimizes the size of the signature as it fixed, the cost of the signer is constant, the verifier costs is also constant, the CRL size is inevitably rising but it is minimize and the CRL issuance cost is also unavoidable, however it is the least significant (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). The revocation method with the ACJT group signature scheme had been proven to be efficient and secured. This more practical than other group signature due to its features that fixes the size of the signature and requires constant work by signers. However, the ACJT group signature scheme requires the use of proofs-of-knowledge involving a double discrete logarithm (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). Conclusion These articles had proposed changes to other group signature schemes and some presented their own schemes. Generally, these articles aim to the advancement of the concept of group signature in relation to efficiency. The articles above had proposed methods of how to satisfy six properties needed fro a secure group signature scheme. These schemes are still subjected to further research to optimize its efficiency without compromising its security. References Ateniese, G. , Camenisch, J. , Joye, M. , and Tsudik, G. (2000). A practical and provably secure coalition-resistant group signature scheme. Advances in cryptography, CRYPTO, 1880, 255-270. Ateniese, G. , Song, D. , and Tsudik, G. (n. d. ). Quasi-efficient revocation of group signatures. The Johns Hopkins University University of California. Popescu, C. (2002). An efficient ID-based group signature scheme. StudiaUniv. Babes-Bolyai, Informatica, 47, 29-35. Popescu,C. , Noje,D. , Bede, B. and Mang, Ioan. (2003). A group signature scheme with revocation. University of Oradea. (Popescu et al. , 2003) Wang, G. , Bao, F. , Zhou, J. , and Deng, R. H. (n. d. ). Security remarks on a group signature scheme with member deletion. Infocomm Security Department, Institute for Infocomm Research.

Ethnic Cleansing in Sudan Essay -- Human Rights Society Sudan Essays

Ethnic Cleansing in Sudan The government of Sudan is responsible for 'ethnic cleansing' and crimes against humanity in Darfur, which is located on Sudan's western border with Chad (. The Sudanese government, along with the Arab 'Janjaweed' militias they arm and support, have attacked the civilians of the African Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups. These attacks involved massacres, summary executions of civilians, burnings of towns and villages, and the forceful depopulation of Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa land. The militia, Muslim like the African groups, have destroyed many religious artifacts including the desecrated Qorans that belong to their enemies (Human Rights Watch, 2004, p. 5). The Sudanese government is breaching at least two articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); Article 3, 'Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person', (General Assembly Resolution, 1948, Article 3) and Article 5, 'No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment'. (General Assembly Resolution, 1948, Article 5) The government has not only killed thousands of Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa civilians - they have, with the help of their Janjaweed allies, raped women, destroyed food supplies, and forced over one million civilians into camps and settlements in Darfur where they are ?on the very edge of survival? (Human Rights Watch, 2004, p. 5) and subject to regular Janjaweed abuses. These breaches are very serious and need to be addressed appropriately. The conflicts that lead to the human rights breaches were a recent escalation of a long-standing disagreement. In February 2003, the rebel groups SLA/M (Sudan Liberation Army/Movement) and JEM (Justice and Equality Movement) demanded an end to chronic economic marginalisation and sought to share power within the Sudanese state. The government responded to this threat by targeting the civilian population from which members of these movements were drawn - the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa ethnic groups. To help their cause, the Sudanese government formed a military and political partnership with some Arab nomads (now known as the Janjaweed) by arming them, training them and offering impunity for all their crimes. At the present time (22.5.2004) some action has taken place to address the result of the UDHR breaches. On the 28th of April the W... .../news/story.asp?NewsID=10793&Cr=sudan&Cr1= ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sudan: Government commits ?ethic cleansing? in Darfur. (2004). Retrieved May 20, 2004, from Human Rights Watch Web site: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/05/07/darfur8549_txt.htm ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sudan High-Level Humanitarian Mission Continues. (2004). Press release retrieved May 20, 2004, from http://www0.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/afr916.doc.htm ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  UN agency plans for repatriating Sudanese refugees to the south. (2004). Retrieved May 20, 2004, from UN News Center Web site: http://www0.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10728&Cr=sudan&Cr1 ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Henderson, Ann. (1999). Can ethnic cleansing be stopped? Retrieved May 23, 2004, from The Star News Article Archive Web site: ? ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  UN estimates 2 million Sudanese in Darfur area now affected by conflict. (2004). Retrieved May 20, 2004, from UN News Center Web site: http://www0.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10758&Cr=sudan&Cr1 ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Human Rights Watch. (2004). Darfur Destroyed: Ethnic cleansing by government and militia forces in western Sudan (Vol. 16, No. 6(A). Retrieved May 22, 2004, from Human Rights Watch Web site: http://hrw.org/reports/2004/sudan0504/sudan0504full.pdf Ethnic Cleansing in Sudan Essay -- Human Rights Society Sudan Essays Ethnic Cleansing in Sudan The government of Sudan is responsible for 'ethnic cleansing' and crimes against humanity in Darfur, which is located on Sudan's western border with Chad (. The Sudanese government, along with the Arab 'Janjaweed' militias they arm and support, have attacked the civilians of the African Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups. These attacks involved massacres, summary executions of civilians, burnings of towns and villages, and the forceful depopulation of Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa land. The militia, Muslim like the African groups, have destroyed many religious artifacts including the desecrated Qorans that belong to their enemies (Human Rights Watch, 2004, p. 5). The Sudanese government is breaching at least two articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); Article 3, 'Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person', (General Assembly Resolution, 1948, Article 3) and Article 5, 'No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment'. (General Assembly Resolution, 1948, Article 5) The government has not only killed thousands of Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa civilians - they have, with the help of their Janjaweed allies, raped women, destroyed food supplies, and forced over one million civilians into camps and settlements in Darfur where they are ?on the very edge of survival? (Human Rights Watch, 2004, p. 5) and subject to regular Janjaweed abuses. These breaches are very serious and need to be addressed appropriately. The conflicts that lead to the human rights breaches were a recent escalation of a long-standing disagreement. In February 2003, the rebel groups SLA/M (Sudan Liberation Army/Movement) and JEM (Justice and Equality Movement) demanded an end to chronic economic marginalisation and sought to share power within the Sudanese state. The government responded to this threat by targeting the civilian population from which members of these movements were drawn - the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa ethnic groups. To help their cause, the Sudanese government formed a military and political partnership with some Arab nomads (now known as the Janjaweed) by arming them, training them and offering impunity for all their crimes. At the present time (22.5.2004) some action has taken place to address the result of the UDHR breaches. On the 28th of April the W... .../news/story.asp?NewsID=10793&Cr=sudan&Cr1= ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sudan: Government commits ?ethic cleansing? in Darfur. (2004). Retrieved May 20, 2004, from Human Rights Watch Web site: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/05/07/darfur8549_txt.htm ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sudan High-Level Humanitarian Mission Continues. (2004). Press release retrieved May 20, 2004, from http://www0.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/afr916.doc.htm ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  UN agency plans for repatriating Sudanese refugees to the south. (2004). Retrieved May 20, 2004, from UN News Center Web site: http://www0.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10728&Cr=sudan&Cr1 ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Henderson, Ann. (1999). Can ethnic cleansing be stopped? Retrieved May 23, 2004, from The Star News Article Archive Web site: ? ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  UN estimates 2 million Sudanese in Darfur area now affected by conflict. (2004). Retrieved May 20, 2004, from UN News Center Web site: http://www0.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10758&Cr=sudan&Cr1 ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Human Rights Watch. (2004). Darfur Destroyed: Ethnic cleansing by government and militia forces in western Sudan (Vol. 16, No. 6(A). Retrieved May 22, 2004, from Human Rights Watch Web site: http://hrw.org/reports/2004/sudan0504/sudan0504full.pdf

The Return: Midnight Chapter 13

Elena, sleeping serenely with one hand locked onto Stefan's, knew she was having an extraordinary dream. No, not a dream – an out-of-body experience. But it wasn't like her previous out-of-body visits to Stefan in his cel . She was skimming through the air so quickly that she couldn't real y make out what was below her. She looked around and suddenly, to her astonishment, another figure appeared beside her. â€Å"Bonnie!†she said – or rather tried to say. But of course there was no sound. Bonnie looked like a transparent edition of herself. As if someone had created her out of blown glass, and then put in just the faintest tint of color in her hair and eyes. Elena tried telepathy. Bonnie? Elena! Oh, I miss you and Meredith so much! I'm stuck here in a hole – A hole? Elena could hear the panic in her own telepathy. It made Bonnie wince. Not a real hole. A dive. An inn, I guess, but I'm locked in and they only feed me twice a day and take me to the toilet once – My God! How did you get there? Well†¦ Bonnie hesitated. I guess it was my own fault. It doesn't matter! How long have you been there, exactly? Um, this is my second day. I think. There was a pause. Then Elena said, Well, a couple of days in a bad place can seem like forever. Bonnie tried to make her case clearer. It's just that I'm so bored and lonely. I miss you and Meredith so much! she repeated. I was thinking of you and Meredith, too, Elena said. But Meredith's there with you, isn't she? Oh my God, she didn't fall, too? Bonnie blurted. No, no! She didn't fall. Elena couldn't decide whether to tel Bonnie about Meredith or not. Maybe not just yet, she thought. She couldn't see what she was rushing toward, although she could feel that they were slowing down. Can you see anything? Hey, yeah, below us! There's a car! Should we go down? Of course. Can we hold hands? They found that they couldn't, but that just trying to kept them closer together. In another moment they were sinking through the roof of a smal car. Hey! It's Alaric! Bonnie said. Alaric Saltzman was Meredith's engaged-to-be-engaged boyfriend. He was about twenty-three now, and his sandy-blond hair and hazel eyes hadn't changed since Elena had seen him almost ten months ago. He was a parapsychologist at Duke, going for his doctorate. We've been trying to get hold of him for ages, Bonnie said. I know. Maybe this is the way we're supposed to contact him. W here is he supposed to be again? Some weird place in Japan. I forget what it's called, but look at the map on the passenger seat. She and Bonnie intermingled as they did, their ghostly forms passing right through each other. Unmei no Shima: The Island of Doom, was written at the top of an outline of an island. The map beside him had a large red X on it with the caption: The Field of Punished Virgins. The what? Bonnie asked indignantly. What's that mean? I don't know. But look, this fog is real fog. And it's raining. And this road is terrible. Bonnie dove outside. Ooh, so weird. The rain's going right through me. And I don't think this is a road. Elena said, Come back in and look at this. There aren't any other cities on the island, just a name. Dr. Celia Connor, forensic pathologist. What's a forensic pathologist? I think, Elena said, that they investigate murders and things. And they dig up dead people to find out why they died. Bonnie shuddered. I don't think I like this very much. Neither do I. But look outside. This was a village once, I think. There was almost nothing left of the vil age. Just a few ruins of wooden buildings that were obviously rotting, and some tumbledown, blackened stone structures. There was one large building with an enormous bright yel ow tarp over it. When the car reached this building, Alaric skidded to a stop, grabbed the map and a smal suitcase, and dashed through the rain and mud to get under cover. Elena and Bonnie fol owed. He was met near the entrance by a very young black woman, whose hair was cut short and sleek around her elfin face. She was smal , not even Elena's height. She had eyes dancing with excitement and white, even teeth that made for a Hol ywood smile. â€Å"Dr. Connor?†Alaric said, looking awed. Meredith isn't going to like this, Bonnie said. â€Å"Just Celia, please,†the woman said, taking his hand. â€Å"Alaric Saltzman, I presume.† â€Å"Just Alaric, please – Celia.† Meredith real y isn't going to like this, Elena said. â€Å"So you're the spook investigator,†Celia was saying below them. â€Å"Well, we need you. This place has spooks – or did once. I don't know if they're stil here or not.† â€Å"Sounds interesting.† â€Å"More like sad and morbid. Sad and weird and morbid. I've excavated al sorts of ruins, especial y those where there's a chance of genocide. And I'l tel you: This island is unlike any place I have ever seen,†Celia said. Alaric was already pul ing things from his case, a thick stack of papers, a smal camcorder, a notebook. He turned on the camcorder, and looked through the viewfinder, then propped it up with some of the papers. When he apparently had Celia in focus, he grabbed the notebook too. Celia looked amused. â€Å"How many ways do you need to take down information?† Alaric tapped the side of his head and shook it sadly. â€Å"As many as possible. Neurons are beginning to go.†He looked around. â€Å"You're not the only one here, are you?† â€Å"Except for the janitor and the guy who ferries me back to Hokkaido, yes. It started out as a normal expedition – there were fourteen of us. But one by one, the others have died or left. I can't even re-bury the specimens – the girls – we've excavated.† â€Å"And the people who left or died from your expedition – â€Å" â€Å"Well, at first people died. Then that and the other spooky stuff made the rest leave. They were frightened for their lives.† Alaric frowned. â€Å"Who died first?† â€Å"Out of our expedition? Ronald Argyl . Pottery specialist. He was examining two jars that were found – Well, I'l skip that story until later. He fel off a ladder and broke his neck.† Alaric's eyebrows went up. â€Å"That was spooky?† â€Å"From a guy like him, who's been in the business for almost twenty years – yes.† â€Å"Twenty years? Maybe a heart attack? And then off the ladder – boom.†Alaric made a downward gesture. â€Å"Maybe that's the way it was. You may be able to explain al our little mysteries for us.†The chic woman with the short hair dimpled like a tomboy. She was dressed like one too, Elena realized: Levi's and a blue and white shirt with the sleeves rol ed up over a white camisole. Alaric gave a little start, as if he'd realized he was guilty of staring. Bonnie and Elena looked at each other over his head. â€Å"But what happened to al the people who lived on the island in the first place? The ones who built the houses?† â€Å"Well, there never were that many of them in the first place. I'm guessing the place may even have been named the Island of Doom before this disaster my team was investigating. But as far as I could find out it was a sort of war – a civil war. Between the children and the adults.† This time when Bonnie and Elena looked at each other, their eyes were both wide. Just like home – Bonnie began, but Elena said, Sh. Listen. â€Å"A civil war between kids and their parents?†Alaric repeated slowly. â€Å"Now that is spooky.† â€Å"Well, it's a process of elimination. You see, I like graves, constructed or just holes in the ground. And here, the inhabitants don't appear to have been invaded. They didn't die of famine or drought – there was stil plenty of grain in the granary. There were no signs of il ness. I've come to believe that they all killed one another – parents kil ing children; children kil ing parents.† â€Å"But how can you tel ?† â€Å"You see this square-ish area on the periphery of the vil age?†Celia pointed to an area on a larger map than Alaric's. â€Å"That's what we cal The Field of Punished Virgins. It's the only place that has careful y constructed actual graves, so it was made early in what became a war. Later, there was no time for coffins – or no one who cared. So far we've excavated twenty-two female children – the eldest in her late teens.† â€Å"Twenty-two girls? Al girls?† â€Å"Al girls in this area. Boys came later, when coffins were no longer being made. They're not as well preserved, because the houses al burned or fel in, and they were exposed to weathering. The girls were careful y, sometimes elaborately, buried; but the markings on their bodies indicate that they were subjected to harsh physical punishment at some time close to their deaths. And then – they had stakes driven through their hearts.† Bonnie's fingers flew to her eyes, as if to ward off a terrible vision. Elena watched Alaric and Celia grimly. Alaric gulped. â€Å"They were staked?†he asked uneasily. â€Å"Yes. Now I know what you'l be thinking. But Japan doesn't have any tradition of vampires. Kitsune – foxes – are probably the closest analog.† Now Elena and Bonnie were hovering right over the map. â€Å"And do kitsunes drink blood?† â€Å"Just kitsune. The Japanese language has an interesting way of expressing plurals. But to answer your question: no. They are legendary tricksters, and one example of what they do is possess girls and women, and lead men to destruction – into bogs, and so on. But here – Well, you can almost read it like a book.† â€Å"You make it sound like one. But not one I'd pick up for pleasure,†Alaric said, and they both smiled bleakly. â€Å"So, to go on with the book, it seems that this disease spread eventual y to al the children in the town. There were deadly fights. The parents somehow couldn't even get to the fishing boats in which they might have escaped the island.† Elena – I know. At least Fell's Church isn't on an island. â€Å"And then there's what we found at the town shrine. I can show you that – it's what Ronald Argyl died for.† They both got up and went farther into the building until Celia stopped beside two large urns on pedestals with a hideous thing in between them. It looked like a dress, weathered until it was almost pure white, but sticking through holes in the clothing were bones. Most horribly, one bleached and fleshless bone hung down from the top of one of the urns. â€Å"This is what Ronald was working on in the field before al this rain came,†Celia explained. â€Å"It was probably the last death of the original inhabitants and it was suicide.† â€Å"How can you possibly know that?† â€Å"Let's see if I can get this right from Ronald's notes. The priestess here doesn't have any other damage than that which caused her death. The shrine was a stone building – once. When we got here we found only a floor, with al the stone steps tumbled apart every which way. Hence Ronald's use of the ladder. It gets quite technical, but Ronald Argyl was a great forensic pathologist and I trust his reading of the story.† â€Å"Which is?†Alaric was taking in the jars and the bones with his camcorder. â€Å"Someone – we don't know who – smashed a hole in each of the jars. This is before the chaos started. The town records make note of it as an act of vandalism, a prank done by a child. But long after that the hole was sealed and the jars made almost airtight again, except where the priestess had her hands plunged in the top up to the wrist.† With infinite care, Celia lifted the top off the jar that did not have a bone hanging from it – to reveal another pair of longish bones, slightly less bleached, and with strips of what must have been clothing on it. Tiny finger bones lay inside the jar. â€Å"What Ronald thought was that this poor woman died as she performed a last desperate act. Clever, too, if you see it from their perspective. She cut her wrists – you can see how the tendon is shriveled in the better-preserved arm – and then she let the entire contents of her bloodstream flow into the urns. We do know that the urns show a heavy precipitation of blood on the bottom. She was trying to lure something in – or perhaps something back in. And she died trying, and the clay that she had probably hoped to use in her last conscious moments held her bones to the jars.† â€Å"Whew!†Alaric ran a hand over his forehead, but shivered at the same time. Take pictures! Elena was mental y commanding him, using al her wil power to transmit the order. She could see that Bonnie was doing the same, eyes shut, fists clenched. As if in obedience to their commands, Alaric was taking pictures as fast as he could. Final y, he was done. But Elena knew that without some outside impetus there was no way that he was going to get those pictures to Fel ‘s Church until he himself came to town – and even Meredith didn't know when that would be. So what do we do? Bonnie asked Elena, looking anguished. Well†¦my tears were real when Stefan was in prison. You want us to cry on him? No, Elena said, not quite patiently. But we look like ghosts – let's act like them. Try blowing on the back of his neck. Bonnie did, and they both watched Alaric shiver, look around him, draw his windbreaker closer. â€Å"And what about the other deaths in your own expedition?†he asked, huddling, looking around apparently aimlessly. Celia began speaking but neither Elena nor Bonnie was listening. Bonnie kept blowing on Alaric from different directions, herding him to the single window in the building that wasn't shattered. There Elena had written with her finger on the darkened cold glass. Once she knew that Alaric was looking that way she blew her breath across the sentence: send all pix of jars 2 meredith now! Every time Alaric approached the window she breathed on it to refresh the words. And at last he saw it. He jumped backward nearly two feet. Then he slowly crept back to the window. Elena refreshed the writing for him. This time, instead of jumping, he simply ran a hand over his eyes and then slowly peeked out again. â€Å"Hey, Mr. Spook-chaser,†said Celia. â€Å"Are you al right?† â€Å"I don't know,†Alaric admitted. He passed his hand over his eyes again, but Celia was coming and Elena didn't breathe on the window. â€Å"I thought I saw a – a message to send copies of the pictures of these jars to Meredith.† Celia raised an eyebrow. â€Å"Who is Meredith?† â€Å"Oh. She – she's one of my former students. I suppose this would interest her.†He looked down at the camcorder. â€Å"Bones and urns?† â€Å"Well, you were interested in them quite young, if your reputation is correct.† â€Å"Oh, yes. I loved to watch a dead bird decay, or find bones and try to figure out what animal they were from,†Celia said, dimpling again. â€Å"From the age of six. But I wasn't like most girls.† â€Å"Well – neither is Meredith,†Alaric said. Elena and Bonnie were eyeing each other seriously now. Alaric had implied that Meredith was special, but he hadn't said it, and he hadn't mentioned their engagement to be engaged. Celia came closer. â€Å"Are you going to send her the pictures?† Alaric laughed. â€Å"Well, al this atmosphere and everything – I don't know. It might just have been my imagination.† Celia turned away just as she reached him and Elena blew once more across the message. Alaric threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender. â€Å"I don't suppose the Island of Doom has satel ite coverage,†he said helplessly. â€Å"Nope,†Celia said. â€Å"But the ferry wil be back in a day, and you can send pictures then – if you're real y going to do it.† â€Å"I think I'd better do it,†Alaric said. Elena and Bonnie were both glaring at him, one from each side. But that was when Elena's eyelids started to droop. Oh, Bonnie, I'm sorry. I wanted to talk to you after this, and make sure you're okay. But I'm falling†¦I can't†¦ She managed to pry her lids open. Bonnie was in a fetal position, fast asleep. Be careful, Elena whispered, not even sure who she was whispering it to. And as she floated away, she was aware of Celia and the way Alaric was talking to this beautiful, accomplished woman only a year or so older than he was. She felt a distinct fear for Meredith, on top of everything else.

Determining Women Athletes Identify As Influences On Their...

My study examines the factors women athletes identify as influences on their participation in sports. The findings show that there are both obstacles and facilitators which influence their participation in sport. Interpersonal, intrapersonal, recommendations and environmental factors are facilitators to participation in sports while obstacles include financial constraints, time, and lack of social support. This chapter will provide conclusions and recommendations. Summary The study shows that athletes recognize more facilitators than obstacles to their participation in sports. Apart from doctor and policy recommendations for the recreational participants, both recreational and elite participants identify influence by the same factors. Participants engage in physical activities to improve their general quality of life and well-being.†¨ The level of importance participants give to each influence differs depending on whether they are recreational or elite athletes. Recreational athletes are mostly (80%) influenced by intrapersonal factors and extrinsically motivated to engage in physical activity, while the elite athletes are mostly (70%) influenced by interpersonal factors and intrinsically motivated to participate in sports. The participants who were following doctor recommendations or institutional policy were all recreational athletes. This this group of participants act as a sub-set of recreational participants/athletes and are extrinsically mo tivated. Participants comeShow MoreRelatedDiscrimination Is Not A New Controversy1974 Words   |  8 Pagesforms has been happening since the very beginning of physical activity and sport. Some forms of discrimination in sport include sexism, gender stereotyping, homophobia, and racism. All forms of discrimination affect everyone involved in sport, from athletes to coaches, spectators to owners. 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