FPGA-based true random number generation using circuit metastability with adaptive feedback control

13th International Workshop, Nara, Japan, September 28 – October 1, 2011. ProceedingsThe paper presents a novel and efficient method to generate true random numbers on FPGAs by inducing metastability in bi-stable circuit elements, e.g. flip-flops. Metastability is achieved by using precise programmable delay lines (PDL) that accurately equalize the signal arrival times to flip-flops. The PDLs are capable of adjusting signal propagation delays with resolutions higher than fractions of a pico second. In addition, a real time monitoring system is utilized to assure a high degree of randomness in the generated output bits, resilience against fluctuations in environmental conditions, as well as robustness against active adversarial attacks. The monitoring system employs a feedback loop that actively monitors the probability of output bits; as soon as any bias is observed in probabilities, it adjusts the delay through PDLs to return to the metastable operation region. Implementation on Xilinx Virtex 5 FPGAs and results of NIST randomness tests show the effectiveness of our approach

Barriers to Exercise in a Medical Unit of US Army Reservists: An Exploratory Study

Military Reservist healthcare workers must meet physical fitness standards similar to those on active duty. They, however, experience a unique occupational environment as citizen Soldiers. Their civilian careers as healthcare workers and their positions in the military both demand shift work, long hours, and critical response to high stress events. For a small group of Reservists working in civilian healthcare occupations who also serve in medical roles in the military, this exploratory study aimed to describe any perceived barriers to exercise. Although over 60% of respondents to an exercise barriers scale perceived physical and social health as the top benefits of exercising, a similar proportion viewed lack of time, time away from family, and financial cost as barriers that most interfered with their ability to exercise. Time and access to exercise, though, are imperative for mission readiness. Respondents may be at risk of not obtaining adequate exercise for optimal physical fitness

Transparent code authentication at the processor level

The authors present a lightweight authentication mechanism that verifies the authenticity of code and thereby addresses the virus and malicious code problems at the hardware level eliminating the need for trusted extensions in the operating system. The technique proposed tightly integrates the authentication mechanism into the processor core. The authentication latency is hidden behind the memory access latency, thereby allowing seamless on-the-fly authentication of instructions. In addition, the proposed authentication method supports seamless encryption of code (and static data). Consequently, while providing the software users with assurance for authenticity of programs executing on their hardware, the proposed technique also protects the software manufacturers’ intellectual property through encryption. The performance analysis shows that, under mild assumptions, the presented technique introduces negligible overhead for even moderate cache sizes

Pulsed Beam Tests at the SANAEM RFQ Beamline

A proton beamline consisting of an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source, two solenoid magnets, two steerer magnets and a radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) is developed at the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority's (TAEA) Saraykoy Nuclear Research and Training Center (SNRTC-SANAEM) in Ankara. In Q4 of 2016, the RFQ was installed in the beamline. The high power tests of the RF power supply and the RF transmission line were done successfully. The high power RF conditioning of the RFQ was performed recently. The 13.56 MHz ICP source was tested in two different conditions, CW and pulsed. The characterization of the proton beam was done with ACCTs, Faraday cups and a pepper-pot emittance meter. Beam transverse emittance was measured in between the two solenoids of the LEBT. The measured beam is then reconstructed at the entrance of the RFQ by using computer simulations to determine the optimum solenoid currents for acceptance matching of the beam. This paper will introduce the pulsed beam test results at the SANAEM RFQ beamline. In addition, the high power RF conditioning of the RFQ will be discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. Proceedings of the International Particle Accelerator Conference 2017 (IPAC'17), May 14-19, 2017, TUPAB015, p. 134

Compact Measurement Station for Low Energy Proton Beams

A compact, remote controlled, cost efficient diagnostic station has been developed to measure the charge, the profile and the emittance for low energy proton beams. It has been installed and tested in the proton beam line of the Project Prometheus at SANAEM of the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority.Comment: 7 pages 2 column

Reflective prism display using pepper’s ghost technique software toolkit plugin for unity 3d

Reflective prism display is a display technology that has potentials in displaying images with fascinating effects. However, the process of creating the display is quite challenging considering the lack of specialized software and bulky hardware setup. In this project, we propose a software toolkit plugin for Unity 3D, called Prismatic, to simplify the process as an alternative over the conventional method of creating a reflective prism display. Adopting the idea from Pepper’s ghost technique, a combination of four cameras facing an object were setup within Unity to produce four viewport renderings of the object, easily projected from a device as small as a smartphone to the size of widescreen TVs. This software toolkit combined with Unity offer simple and centralized control over camera, facets, and object. Prismatic has the potential in assisting apps developer in creating the display such as in showcasing models for education and business purposes

IMPACT OF DISTURBANCE ON PHYTODIVERSITY IN UNDISTURBED AND DISTURBED CATCHMENT AREAS OF SERLUI RIVER IN VICINITY OF SERLUI-B HYDEL PROJECT, MIZORAM, NORTH-EAST INDIA

The present study was conducted to assess the phytodiversity and economical importance of plant species in the undisturbed and disturbed zones of Serlui-B hydel project which is being constructed on Serlui river in Kolasib district of Mizoram, India. The present study records a total of 82 species belonging to 41 families and 71 genera from both the selected study sites. 70 species belonging to 39 families and 63 genera were found in the undisturbed site whereas 37 species belonging to 16 families and 34 genera were observed in the disturbed site. The similarity index calculated was found to be 0.24 between the undisturbed and disturbed stands. Effect of disturbance along the disturbance gradient and a decrease in species diversity and distribution was recorded. Construction of dam has led to removal of majority of the dominant tree species with secondary growth. The results also indicate that the species dominant at the disturbed site maybe tolerant to stress and able to survive under such harsh influence of disturbance. On the other hand, species sensitive to the disturbance shows poor growth rate and some species were totally eliminated from the disturbed site due to the increased stress caused due to the degree of disturbance. 

A Physical Approach for Stochastic Modeling of TERO-based TRNG

International audienceSecurity in random number generation for cryptography is closely related to the entropy rate at the generator output. This rate has to be evaluated using an appropriate stochastic model. The stochastic model proposed in this paper is dedicated to the transition effect ring oscillator (TERO) based true random number generator (TRNG) proposed by Varchola and Drutarovsky in 2010. The advantage and originality of this model is that it is derived from a physical model based on a detailed study and on the precise electrical description of the noisy physical phenomena that contribute to the generation of random numbers. We compare the proposed electrical description with data generated in a 28 nm CMOS ASIC implementation. Our experimental results are in very good agreement with those obtained with both the physical model of TERO's noisy behavior and with the stochastic model of the TERO TRNG, which we also confirmed using the AIS 31 test suites

License distribution protocols from optical media fingerprints

According to the Business Software Alliance about 35% of the global software market, worth $141 Billion, is counterfeit. Most of the counterfeit software is distributed in the form of a compact disc (CD) or a digital video disc (DVD) which is easily copied and sold in street corners all around the world but mostly in developing countries. Given the severity of the problem at hand, a comprehensive solution taking into account the manufacturing process, economical implications, ease of enforcement, and the owner’s rights needs to be developed. While this is an enormous undertaking requiring new schemes at all levels of implementation, in this work, we focus only on a small part of the problem, i.e., secure fingerprinting techniques for optical media. © 2010, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Phylogenetic Relationships of Trichoderma isolates of North Bengal Based on Sequence Analysis of ITS Region of rDNA

Abstract: The aim of this study was to determine whether sequence analysis of internal transcribed spacer-1 (ITS1) region of the ribosomal DNA can be used to detect phylogenetic relationships of Trichoderma isolates obtained from North Bengal region. ITS 1 of the rDNA of thirteen Trichoderma isolates was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using universal primers (ITS1 and ITS4). PCR products were purified and these purified products were used to amplify the ITS 4 region of all Trichoderma isolates. The amplified DNA was sequenced and aligned against ex-type strain sequences from TrichoBLAST and established Trichoderma taxonomy. Nine isolates were positively identified as Trichoderma harzianum and four as Trichoderma erinaceum which were used as an outgroup in these analyses. The ITS-1 region sequences have been used as the reference's sequence and may be used for future study involving the identification and taxonomy of Trichoderma harzianum. Amplification of ITS1 region of the rDNA has showed potential as a rapid technique for identifying Trichoderma harzianum successfully in all cases