Blockchain Security: Situational Crime Prevention Theory and Distributed Cyber Systems

The authors laid the groundwork for analyzing the crypto-economic incentives of interconnected blockchain networks and utilize situational crime prevention theory to explain how more secure systems can be developed. Blockchain networks utilize smaller blockchains (often called sidechains) to increase throughput in larger networks. Identified are several disadvantages to using sidechains that create critical exposures to the assets locked on them. Without security being provided by the mainchain in the form of validated exits, sidechains or statechannels which have a bridge or mainchain asset representations are at significant risk of attack. The inability to have a sufficiently high cost to attack the sidechain while mainchain assets can be withdrawn, along with the disconnect between the integrity of the sidechain and the value of the stolen assets are among the top disadvantages. The current study used a vulnerability analysis and theoretical mathematics based on situational crime prevention theory to highlight the attack vectors and prevention methods for these systems. Much of the analysis can be applied to any distributed system (e.g. blockchain network), particularly any supposedly trustless off-chain component. The equations developed in the current study will hold for any two chains that are bridged and pass value back and forth and provides evidence to suggest a public sidechain is likely not a viable option for scalability due to security concerns. Criminal strategies on blockchain networks in the digital realm are similar to criminal strategies in the physical realm; therefore, the application of criminology can lead to more efficient development and ultimately more effective security protocols

One way Doppler extractor. Volume 1: Vernier technique

A feasibility analysis, trade-offs, and implementation for a One Way Doppler Extraction system are discussed. A Doppler error analysis shows that quantization error is a primary source of Doppler measurement error. Several competing extraction techniques are compared and a Vernier technique is developed which obtains high Doppler resolution with low speed logic. Parameter trade-offs and sensitivities for the Vernier technique are analyzed, leading to a hardware design configuration. A detailed design, operation, and performance evaluation of the resulting breadboard model is presented which verifies the theoretical performance predictions. Performance tests have verified that the breadboard is capable of extracting Doppler, on an S-band signal, to an accuracy of less than 0.02 Hertz for a one second averaging period. This corresponds to a range rate error of no more than 3 millimeters per second

Estimation of the mechanical properties of the eye through the study of its vibrational modes

Measuring the eye's mechanical properties in vivo and with minimally invasive techniques can be the key for individualized solutions to a number of eye pathologies. The development of such techniques largely relies on a computational modelling of the eyeball and, it optimally requires the synergic interplay between experimentation and numerical simulation. In Astrophysics and Geophysics the remote measurement of structural properties of the systems of their realm is performed on the basis of (helio-)seismic techniques. As a biomechanical system, the eyeball possesses normal vibrational modes encompassing rich information about its structure and mechanical properties. However, the integral analysis of the eyeball vibrational modes has not been performed yet. Here we develop a new finite difference method to compute both the spheroidal and, specially, the toroidal eigenfrequencies of the human eye. Using this numerical model, we show that the vibrational eigenfrequencies of the human eye fall in the interval 100 Hz - 10 MHz. We find that compressible vibrational modes may release a trace on high frequency changes of the intraocular pressure, while incompressible normal modes could be registered analyzing the scattering pattern that the motions of the vitreous humour leave on the retina. Existing contact lenses with embebed devices operating at high sampling frequency could be used to register the microfluctuations of the eyeball shape we obtain. We advance that an inverse problem to obtain the mechanical properties of a given eye (e.g., Young's modulus, Poisson ratio) measuring its normal frequencies is doable. These measurements can be done using non-invasive techniques, opening very interesting perspectives to estimate the mechanical properties of eyes in vivo. Future research might relate various ocular pathologies with anomalies in measured vibrational frequencies of the eye.Comment: Published in PLoS ONE as Open Access Research Article. 17 pages, 5 color figure

Valence change of praseodymium in Pr0.5Ca0.5CoO3 investigated by x-ray absorption spectroscopy

X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements in Pr0.5Ca0.5CoO3 were performed at the Pr M4,5, Pr L3, and Ca L2,3 absorption edges as a function of temperature below 300 K. Ca spectra show no changes down to 10 K while a noticeable thermally dependent evolution takes place at the Pr edges across the metal-insulator transition. Spectral changes are analyzed by different methods, including multiple scattering simulations, which provide quantitative details on an electron loss at Pr 4f orbitals. We conclude that in the insulating phase a fraction [15(+5)%] of Pr3+ undergoes a further oxidation to adopt a hybridized configuration composed of an admixture of atomic-like 4f1 states (Pr4+) and f- symmetry states on the O 2p valence band (Pr3+L states) indicative of a strong 4f- 2p interaction.Comment: 19 pages (.doc), 4 figures, Phys. Rev. B, in pres

Non-coboundary Poisson-Lie structures on the book group

All possible Poisson-Lie (PL) structures on the 3D real Lie group generated by a dilation and two commuting translations are obtained. Its classification is fully performed by relating these PL groups with the corresponding Lie bialgebra structures on the corresponding "book" Lie algebra. By construction, all these Poisson structures are quadratic Poisson-Hopf algebras for which the group multiplication is a Poisson map. In contrast to the case of simple Lie groups, it turns out that most of the PL structures on the book group are non-coboundary ones. Moreover, from the viewpoint of Poisson dynamics, the most interesting PL book structures are just some of these non-coboundaries, which are explicitly analysed. In particular, we show that the two different q-deformed Poisson versions of the sl(2,R) algebra appear as two distinguished cases in this classification, as well as the quadratic Poisson structure that underlies the integrability of a large class of 3D Lotka-Volterra equations. Finally, the quantization problem for these PL groups is sketched.Comment: 15 pages, revised version, some references adde