CamouflageFS: Increasing the Effective Key Length in Cryptographic Filesystems on the Cheap

One of the few quantitative metrics used to evaluate the security of a cryptographic file system is the key length of the encryption algorithm; larger key lengths correspond to higher resistance to brute force and other types of attacks. Since accepted cryptographic design principles dictate that larger key lengths also impose higher processing costs, increasing the security of a cryptographic file system also increases the overhead of the underlying cipher. We present a general approach to effectively extend the key length without imposing the concomitant processing overhead. Our scheme is to spread the ciphertext inside an artificially large file that is seemingly filled with random bits according to a key-driven spreading sequence. Our prototype implementation, CamouflageFS, offers improved performance relative to a cipher with a larger key-schedule, while providing the same security properties. We discuss our implementation (based on the Linux Ext2 file system) and present some preliminary performance results. While CamouflageFS is implemented as a stand-alone file system, its primary mechanisms can easily be integrated into existing cryptographic file systems

Land-sparing agriculture sustains higher levels of avian functional diversity than land sharing

The ecological impacts of meeting rising demands for food production can potentially be mitigated by two competing land-use strategies: off-setting natural habitats through intensification of existing farmland (land sparing), or elevating biodiversity within the agricultural matrix via the integration of 'wildlife-friendly' habitat features (land sharing). However, a key unanswered question is whether sparing or sharing farming would best conserve functional diversity, which can promote ecosystem stability and resilience to future land-use change. Focusing on bird communities in tropical cloud forests of the Colombian Andes, we test the performance of each strategy in conserving functional diversity. We show that multiple components of avian functional diversity in farmland are positively related to the proximity and extent of natural forest. Using landscape and community simulations, we also show that land-sparing agriculture conserves greater functional diversity and predicts higher abundance of species supplying key ecological functions than land sharing, with sharing becoming progressively inferior with increasing isolation from remnant forest. These results suggest low-intensity agriculture is likely to conserve little functional diversity unless large blocks of adjacent natural habitat are protected, consistent with land sparing. To ensure the retention of functionally diverse ecosystems, we urgently need to implement mechanisms for increasing farmland productivity whilst protecting spared land

Synergy of seismic, acoustic, and video signals in blast analysis

The range of mining applications from hard rock quarrying to coal exposure to mineral recovery leads to a great variety of blasting practices. A common characteristic of many of the sources is that they are detonated at or near the earth`s surface and thus can be recorded by camera or video. Although the primary interest is in the seismic waveforms that these blasts generate, the visual observations of the blasts provide important constraints that can be applied to the physical interpretation of the seismic source function. In particular, high speed images can provide information on detonation times of individuals charges, the timing and amount of mass movement during the blasting process and, in some instances, evidence of wave propagation away from the source. All of these characteristics can be valuable in interpreting the equivalent seismic source function for a set of mine explosions and quantifying the relative importance of the different processes. This paper documents work done at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Southern Methodist University to take standard Hi-8 video of mine blasts, recover digital images from them, and combine them with ground motion records for interpretation. The steps in the data acquisition, processing, display, and interpretation are outlined. The authors conclude that the combination of video with seismic and acoustic signals can be a powerful diagnostic tool for the study of blasting techniques and seismology. A low cost system for generating similar diagnostics using consumer-grade video camera and direct-to-disk video hardware is proposed. Application is to verification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

SU(4) Spin-Orbital Two-Leg Ladder, Square and Triangle Lattices

Based on the generalized valence bond picture, a Schwinger boson mean field theory is applied to the symmetric SU(4) spin-orbital systems. For a two-leg SU(4) ladder, the ground state is a spin-orbital liquid with a finite energy gap, in good agreement with recent numerical calculations. In two-dimensional square and triangle lattices, the SU(4) Schwinger bosons condense at (\pi/2,\pi/2) and (\pi/3,\pi/3), respectively. Spin, orbital, and coupled spin-orbital static susceptibilities become singular at the wave vectors, twice of which the bose condensation arises at. It is also demonstrated that there are spin, orbital, and coupled spin-orbital long-range orderings in the ground state.Comment: 5 page

Anisotropic two-dimensional Heisenberg model by Schwinger-boson Gutzwiller projected method

Two-dimensional Heisenberg model with anisotropic couplings in the $x$ and $y$ directions ($J_x \neq J_y$) is considered. The model is first solved in the Schwinger-boson mean-field approximation. Then the solution is Gutzwiller projected to satisfy the local constraint that there is only one boson at each site. The energy and spin-spin correlation of the obtained wavefunction are calculated for systems with up to $20 \times 20$ sites by means of the variational Monte Carlo simulation. It is shown that the antiferromagnetic long-range order remains down to the one-dimensional limit.Comment: 15 pages RevTex3.0, 4 figures, available upon request, GWRVB8-9

Spiral phase and phase separation of the double exchange model in the large-S limit

The phase diagram of the double exchange model is studied in the large-S limit at zero temperature in two and three dimensions. We find that the spiral state has lower energy than the canted antiferromagnetic state in the region between the antiferromagnetic phase and the ferromagnetic phase. At small doping, the spiral phase is unstable against phase separation due to its negative compressibility. When the Hund coupling is small, the system separates into spiral regions and antiferromagnetic regions. When the Hund coupling is large, the spiral phase disappears completely and the system separates into ferromagnetic regions and antiferromagnetic regions.Comment: 7 pages, 3 postscript figures. To be published in Phys. Rev.

The Evidence for a Pentaquark Signal and Kinematic Reflections

Several recent experiments have reported evidence for a narrow baryon resonance with positive strangeness ($\Theta^+$) at a mass of 1.54 GeV/$c^2$. Baryons with $S=+1$ cannot be conventional $qqq$ states and the reports have thus generated much theoretical speculation about the nature of possible $S=+1$ baryons, including a 5-quark, or pentaquark, interpretation. We show that narrow enhancements in the $K^+n$ effective mass spectrum can be generated as kinematic reflections resulting from the decay of mesons, such as the $f_2(1275)$, the $a_2(1320)$ and the $\rho_3(1690)$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Risk versus Benefit of Chemoprevention among Raloxifene and Tamoxifen Users with a Family History of Breast Cancer

Tamoxifen and raloxifene have been approved for the primary prevention of breast cancer in high-risk women, but are associated with an increased risk of serious side effects. Few studies have characterized risk–benefit profiles for chemoprevention among women who initiate tamoxifen or raloxifene outside of a clinical trial setting. Use of raloxifene and tamoxifen for chemoprevention was self-reported in 2014 to 2016 by participants in The Sister Study, a prospective cohort of women with a sister who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. After exclusions, 432 current raloxifene users and 96 current tamoxifen users were matched to 4,307 and 953 nonusers, respectively, on age and year of cohort enrollment. Conditional logistic regression was used to evaluate characteristics associated with chemoprevention use. Risk–benefit profiles were examined using published indices that assess the level of evidence (none, moderate, strong) that the benefits of chemoprevention outweigh the risk of serious side effects. Among current chemoprevention users, 44% of tamoxifen users and 5% of raloxifene users had no evidence of a net benefit. In analyses of factors associated with chemoprevention use, having strong evidence of benefit was a significant predictor of raloxifene use, but not of tamoxifen use. In our sample of women with a first-degree family history of breast cancer, raloxifene was more commonly used for breast cancer prevention than tamoxifen. Most raloxifene users, but <60% of tamoxifen users, were likely to benefit. Use of risk–benefit tables can help women and their healthcare providers make an informed decision about breast cancer chemoprevention

Ferromagnetic transition in a double-exchange system

We study ferromagnetic transition in three-dimensional double-exchange model. The influence of strong spin fluctuations on conduction electrons is described in coherent potential approximation. In the framework of thermodynamic approach we construct for the system "electrons (in a disordered spin configuration) + spins" the Landau functional, from the analysis of which critical temperature of ferromagnetic transition is calculated.Comment: 4 pages, 1 eps figure, LaTeX2e, RevTeX. References added, text change

Born reciprocity and the 1/r potential

Many structures in nature are invariant under the transformation (p,r)->(br,-p/b), where b is some scale factor. Born's reciprocity hypothesis affirms that this invariance extends to the entire Hamiltonian and equations of motion. We investigate this idea for atomic physics and galactic motion, where one is basically dealing with a 1/r potential and the observations are very accurate, so as to determine the scale $b = m\Omega$. We find that an $\Omega \sim 1.5\times 10^{-15}$ Hz has essentially no effect on atomic physics but might possibly offer an explanation for galactic rotation, without invoking dark matter.Comment: 14 pages, with 4 figures, Latex, requires epsf.tex and iop style file