5,884 research outputs found
Hidden in the Cloud : Advanced Cryptographic Techniques for Untrusted Cloud Environments
In the contemporary digital age, the ability to search and perform operations on encrypted data has become increasingly important. This significance is primarily due to the exponential growth of data, often referred to as the "new oil," and the corresponding rise in data privacy concerns. As more and more data is stored in the cloud, the need for robust security measures to protect this data from unauthorized access and misuse has become paramount.
One of the key challenges in this context is the ability to perform meaningful operations on the data while it remains encrypted. Traditional encryption techniques, while providing a high level of security, render the data unusable for any practical purpose other than storage. This is where advanced cryptographic protocols like Symmetric Searchable Encryption (SSE), Functional Encryption (FE), Homomorphic Encryption (HE), and Hybrid Homomorphic Encryption (HHE) come into play. These protocols not only ensure the confidentiality of data but also allow computations on encrypted data, thereby offering a higher level of security and privacy.
The ability to search and perform operations on encrypted data has several practical implications. For instance, it enables efficient Boolean queries on encrypted databases, which is crucial for many "big data" applications. It also allows for the execution of phrase searches, which are important for many machine learning applications, such as intelligent medical data analytics. Moreover, these capabilities are particularly relevant in the context of sensitive data, such as health records or financial information, where the privacy and security of user data are of utmost importance.
Furthermore, these capabilities can help build trust in digital systems. Trust is a critical factor in the adoption and use of digital services. By ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data, these protocols can help build user trust in cloud services. This trust, in turn, can drive the wider adoption of digital services, leading to a more inclusive digital society.
However, it is important to note that while these capabilities offer significant advantages, they also present certain challenges. For instance, the computational overhead of these protocols can be substantial, making them less suitable for scenarios where efficiency is a critical requirement. Moreover, these protocols often require sophisticated key management mechanisms, which can be challenging to implement in practice. Therefore, there is a need for ongoing research to address these challenges and make these protocols more efficient and practical for real-world applications.
The research publications included in this thesis offer a deep dive into the intricacies and advancements in the realm of cryptographic protocols, particularly in the context of the challenges and needs highlighted above.
Publication I presents a novel approach to hybrid encryption, combining the strengths of ABE and SSE. This fusion aims to overcome the inherent limitations of both techniques, offering a more secure and efficient solution for key sharing and access control in cloud-based systems. Publication II further expands on SSE, showcasing a dynamic scheme that emphasizes forward and backward privacy, crucial for ensuring data integrity and confidentiality. Publication III and Publication IV delve into the potential of MIFE, demonstrating its applicability in real-world scenarios, such as designing encrypted private databases and additive reputation systems. These publications highlight the transformative potential of MIFE in bridging the gap between theoretical cryptographic concepts and practical applications. Lastly, Publication V underscores the significance of HE and HHE as a foundational element for secure protocols, emphasizing its potential in devices with limited computational capabilities.
In essence, these publications not only validate the importance of searching and performing operations on encrypted data but also provide innovative solutions to the challenges mentioned. They collectively underscore the transformative potential of advanced cryptographic protocols in enhancing data security and privacy, paving the way for a more secure digital future
Cyclic proof systems for modal fixpoint logics
This thesis is about cyclic and ill-founded proof systems for modal fixpoint logics, with and without explicit fixpoint quantifiers.Cyclic and ill-founded proof-theory allow proofs with infinite branches or paths, as long as they satisfy some correctness conditions ensuring the validity of the conclusion. In this dissertation we design a few cyclic and ill-founded systems: a cyclic one for the weak Grzegorczyk modal logic K4Grz, based on our explanation of the phenomenon of cyclic companionship; and ill-founded and cyclic ones for the full computation tree logic CTL* and the intuitionistic linear-time temporal logic iLTL. All systems are cut-free, and the cyclic ones for K4Grz and iLTL have fully finitary correctness conditions.Lastly, we use a cyclic system for the modal mu-calculus to obtain a proof of the uniform interpolation property for the logic which differs from the original, automata-based one
Composing a Poetic Opera
This portfolio comprises an opera, Drought, with a libretto by Niall Campbell, and a collection of my electronic music under the moniker âNorrisetteâ. Originally this PhD would have involved the creation of a 2-hour opera for six vocalists and symphony orchestra, however the restrictions necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic led this to evolve into a shorter, one-act opera for two vocalists, chamber orchestra and electronic track.
I have also composed numerous works since 2019, including a 45-minute ballet, part of an opera for Glyndebourne, and multiple orchestral and chamber works, however I have not included these in the portfolio as the development of the soundworld and structure of Drought is most clearly represented by itself and by my recorded songs and electronic tracks.
Norrisette began in multiple ways: firstly, working with electronic music was my way of ameliorating the loss of a full orchestra and vocal department with whom to collaborate during Covid-19 restrictions, which was a crucial element in the original vision for this project. I began recording and producing music at home during lockdown and this process continued until restrictions eased. It continues still to this day as I now regularly release new recordings and perform live.
Secondly, believing song to be rooted in poetry, Campbellâs poetic skill inspired me to further develop my songwriting practice alongside the opera project with my Norrisette work. My broad reasoning was that Campbellâs lyric poetry style would be complemented most naturally by songwriting. I felt that my songwriting ability needed work so I set about writing numerous songs with my own words as a practice exercise, which evolved into its own parallel project.
Thirdly, I felt frustrated that I initially had less narrative input with the libretto than I had originally imagined. All collaborations are unique, and in our particular case, while sharing many interests such as environmental change, Campbell and I had different visions for characters, narrative voice, political tropes and structural devices, as well as conflicting creative processes (I wished to collaborate more continuously, Campbell preferred extended periods of creative isolation). Norrisette became my voice: I wrote lyrics and music together, having full creative control while Campbell was developing his first drafts of the libretto.
Fourthly, Campbell partially inspired the creation of Norrisette from his initial libretto draft which involved an otherworldly âRainmakerâ character (see Appendix C); I decided that an electronic soundworld would be the ideal way in which to expand this characterâs voice. Norrisette was incubated by my desire to develop an avant-garde soundworld and thus a more skilled electronic practice in my work.
One of the original research questions for this project was how composer and poet might interact without a directorâs involvement in the early stages. Working with the BBC Philharmonic, a radio orchestra, created a unique opportunity and challenge to prepare an opera that would be experienced fully by listeners at home without the visual element of staging. Many choices I made in text-setting and orchestration are to maximise the impact of the story and music through sound alone. I wanted the audience to taste and feel the drought and rain without it being illustrated visually. Campbellâs inclusion of a Radio Song scene in the libretto foregrounds this dimension even further. In the final libretto draft, the voice that originated as the Rainmaker character has become the voice of the Radio Song. Thus Norrisette also begins her life in the Radio. The creation of the Radio Song was the moment that I found full permission to integrate my electronic practice with my operatic practice.
My subsequent collaboration with artificial intelligence software (PRiSM SampleRNN) using Norrisette recordings as source material, created WAV file outputs which I have nicknamed âNot-Norrisetteâ. These WAV files, with some editing and arranging, form the soundscape of Scene 5 in the opera, where the radio is malfunctioning. The woven partnership between Drought and Norrisette has two main strands: that of playing with the relationship between acoustic and electronic technologies, and that of poetry and songwriting. In this commentary I describe my approach to composing Drought and creating Norrisette along these two strands of technology and poetry, in dialogue with the genres of opera and pop music, and with reference to the complex relationship between music and language. I have grouped my practices under the umbrella of âComposing a Poetic Operaâ because this overarching goal took me in numerous creative directions that ultimately found their way back to the opera premiere on the 26th October 2022. Campbellâs poetry led me to explore technology of sound, which then enabled me to grapple with the task of composing a radio opera for RNCM singers and the BBC Philharmonic
Experience, evidence and what counts in UK music therapy â an arts-based autoethnographic study
The field of music therapy is not bland: therapists train because of deep belief in the dignity of people and the power of music; participants begin therapy because something significantly challenging is present in their lives; fundraisers share stories which are painful, life affirming, uncomfortable; receptionists juggle quiet spaces with loud spaces with stimulation without sensory triggers; carers listen, absorb, give and give some more, often beyond the limits of their energy. And pulse and meter and melody and dynamics and bodies and voices and wood and skin and metal are the raw materials.However, it might be argued that the search for evidence in music therapy has led to something akin to a parallel reality, - one in which measured, analytical reporting of certain aspects of the work is shared, often in official documents. The vital, sensory, embodied, relational experience which is music making, and which lies at the heart of the therapy is rendered in careful and dispassionate text. There are good reasons for this, and for the steady growth of âevidence-based practiceâ, which lie in the history of the profession and its search for validation. Yet the evidence which is shared in these texts has tended to become increasingly disconnected from many features of the musical therapeutic encounter that music therapists value.In this study, conceived from a critical realist perspective, I ask âwhat is experience in music therapyâ, âwhat is evidence in music therapyâ, âare evidence and experience in fact the same thing, or could they beâ? I look at my own experiences, and evidencing of these experiences, gained across 24 years of working as a music therapist. In so doing, I find I cannot maintain a single role or persona. Unexpectedly, in the course of this reflexive exploration, four Roles arrive noisily and will not go away (Music Therapist, Researcher, Musician and Carer). They debate, argue and probe at the heart of what counts, and at the cultures of music therapy which systematise and perpetuate what counts. They consider the turn to evidence-based practice in music therapy and ask âwhat is the evidence ofâ, and âdoes this make sense to insiders, outsiders, either, bothâ?This multivocal, dialogical approach allows me to adopt the different positions taken by each of the four Roles as they ask âdoes this make sense to meâ, and to advocate for culture change in both music therapy and academia. It resonates with the focus of this research â experience, evidence and what counts in music therapy, and invites various different methodological approaches - autoethnography, arts-based research, phenomenology, and Aesthetic Critical Realism which is introduced to the field of music therapy for the first time. A complex web of different kinds of experience and evidence emerges through poems, stories, vignettes, images and mobile making and results in a concept of four phases of experience, leads to defined categories of different kinds of experience, and to the proposition that in music therapy, experience is evidence of personhood.The thesis is relational: those engaging with it are part of the network of experiences in the field of music therapy, because I conceptualise this field as including all musical, logistical, contractual, academic, public and informal encounters of all stakeholders, from participants to next-door neighbours. Because you are engaging with this thesis, I regard you as a Collaborator, but it is not necessary for you to be familiar with the field. Thank you for your involvement
UMSL Bulletin 2023-2024
The 2023-2024 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1088/thumbnail.jp
LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volume
LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volum
UMSL Bulletin 2022-2023
The 2022-2023 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1087/thumbnail.jp
A new global media order? : debates and policies on media and mass communication at UNESCO, 1960 to 1980
Defence date: 24 June 2019Examining Board:
Professor Federico Romero, European University Institute (Supervisor);
Professor Corinna Unger, European University Institute (Second Reader);
Professor Iris Schröder, UniversitÀt Erfurt (External Advisor);
Professor Sandrine Kott, UniversitĂ© de GenĂšveThe 1970s, a UNESCO report claimed, would be the âcommunication decadeâ. UNESCO had started research on new means of mass communication for development purposes in the 1960s. In the 1970s, the issue evolved into a debate on the so-called âNew World Information and Communication Orderâ (NWICO) and the democratisation of global media. It led UNESCO itself into a major crisis in the 1980s. My project traces a dual trajectory that shaped this global debate on transnational media. The first follows communications from being seen as a tool and goal of national development in the 1960s, to communications seen as catalyst for recalibrated international political, cultural and economic relations. The second relates to the recurrent attempts, and eventual failure, of various actors to engage UNESCO as a platform to promote a new global order. I take UNESCO as an observation post to study national ambitions intersecting with internationalist claims to universality, changing understandings of the role of media in development and international affairs, and competing visions of world order. Looking at the modes of this debate, the project also sheds light on the evolving practices of internationalism. Located in the field of a new international history, this study relates to the recent rediscovery of the ânew orderâ-discourses of the 1970s as well as to the increasingly diversified literature on internationalism. With its focus on international communications and attempts at regulating them, it also contributes to an international media history in the late twentieth century. The emphasis on the role of international organisations as well as on voices from the Global South will make contributions to our understanding of the historic macro-processes of decolonisation, globalisation and the Cold War
OYXOY: A Modern NLP Test Suite for Modern Greek
This paper serves as a foundational step towards the development of a
linguistically motivated and technically relevant evaluation suite for Greek
NLP. We initiate this endeavor by introducing four expert-verified evaluation
tasks, specifically targeted at natural language inference, word sense
disambiguation (through example comparison or sense selection) and metaphor
detection. More than language-adapted replicas of existing tasks, we contribute
two innovations which will resonate with the broader resource and evaluation
community. Firstly, our inference dataset is the first of its kind, marking not
just \textit{one}, but rather \textit{all} possible inference labels,
accounting for possible shifts due to e.g. ambiguity or polysemy. Secondly, we
demonstrate a cost-efficient method to obtain datasets for under-resourced
languages. Using ChatGPT as a language-neutral parser, we transform the
Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek into a structured format, from which we
derive the other three tasks through simple projections. Alongside each task,
we conduct experiments using currently available state of the art machinery.
Our experimental baselines affirm the challenging nature of our tasks and
highlight the need for expedited progress in order for the Greek NLP ecosystem
to keep pace with contemporary mainstream research
Testing the Limits: Unusual Text Inputs Generation for Mobile App Crash Detection with Large Language Model
Mobile applications have become a ubiquitous part of our daily life,
providing users with access to various services and utilities. Text input, as
an important interaction channel between users and applications, plays an
important role in core functionality such as search queries, authentication,
messaging, etc. However, certain special text (e.g., -18 for Font Size) can
cause the app to crash, and generating diversified unusual inputs for fully
testing the app is highly demanded. Nevertheless, this is also challenging due
to the combination of explosion dilemma, high context sensitivity, and complex
constraint relations. This paper proposes InputBlaster which leverages the LLM
to automatically generate unusual text inputs for mobile app crash detection.
It formulates the unusual inputs generation problem as a task of producing a
set of test generators, each of which can yield a batch of unusual text inputs
under the same mutation rule. In detail, InputBlaster leverages LLM to produce
the test generators together with the mutation rules serving as the reasoning
chain, and utilizes the in-context learning schema to demonstrate the LLM with
examples for boosting the performance. InputBlaster is evaluated on 36 text
input widgets with cash bugs involving 31 popular Android apps, and results
show that it achieves 78% bug detection rate, with 136% higher than the best
baseline. Besides, we integrate it with the automated GUI testing tool and
detect 37 unseen crashes in real-world apps from Google Play.Comment: Accepted by IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering
2024 (ICSE 2024
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