6,092 research outputs found
Relativistic gravitational collapse in comoving coordinates: The post-quasistatic approximation
A general iterative method proposed some years ago for the description of
relativistic collapse, is presented here in comoving coordinates. For doing
that we redefine the basic concepts required for the implementation of the
method for comoving coordinates. In particular the definition of the
post-quasistatic approximation in comoving coordinates is given. We write the
field equations, the boundary conditions and a set of ordinary differential
equations (the surface equations) which play a fundamental role in the
algorithm. As an illustration of the method, we show how to build up a model
inspired in the well known Schwarzschild interior solution. Both, the adiabatic
and non adiabatic, cases are considered.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures; updated version to appear in Int. J. Modern
Phys.
Equation of state and transport processes in self--similar spheres
We study the effect of transport processes (diffusion and free--streaming) on
a collapsing spherically symmetric distribution of matter in a self--similar
space--time. A very simple solution shows interesting features when it is
matched with the Vaidya exterior solution. In the mixed case (diffusion and
free--streaming), we find a barotropic equation of state in the stationary
regime. In the diffusion approximation the gravitational potential at the
surface is always constant; if we perturb the stationary state, the system is
very stable, recovering the barotropic equation of state as time progresses. In
the free--streaming case the self--similar evolution is stationary but with a
non--barotropic equation of state.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure
A Framework for Efficient Adaptively Secure Composable Oblivious Transfer in the ROM
Oblivious Transfer (OT) is a fundamental cryptographic protocol that finds a
number of applications, in particular, as an essential building block for
two-party and multi-party computation. We construct a round-optimal (2 rounds)
universally composable (UC) protocol for oblivious transfer secure against
active adaptive adversaries from any OW-CPA secure public-key encryption scheme
with certain properties in the random oracle model (ROM). In terms of
computation, our protocol only requires the generation of a public/secret-key
pair, two encryption operations and one decryption operation, apart from a few
calls to the random oracle. In~terms of communication, our protocol only
requires the transfer of one public-key, two ciphertexts, and three binary
strings of roughly the same size as the message. Next, we show how to
instantiate our construction under the low noise LPN, McEliece, QC-MDPC, LWE,
and CDH assumptions. Our instantiations based on the low noise LPN, McEliece,
and QC-MDPC assumptions are the first UC-secure OT protocols based on coding
assumptions to achieve: 1) adaptive security, 2) optimal round complexity, 3)
low communication and computational complexities. Previous results in this
setting only achieved static security and used costly cut-and-choose
techniques.Our instantiation based on CDH achieves adaptive security at the
small cost of communicating only two more group elements as compared to the
gap-DH based Simplest OT protocol of Chou and Orlandi (Latincrypt 15), which
only achieves static security in the ROM
Effect of urban vs. rural residence on the association between atopy and wheeze in Latin America: findings from a case-control analysis.
BACKGROUND: The association between atopy and asthma is attenuated in non-affluent populations, an effect that may be explained by childhood infections such as geohelminths. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between atopy and wheeze in schoolchildren living in urban and rural areas of Ecuador and examine the effects of geohelminths on this association. METHODS: We performed nested case-control studies among comparable populations of schoolchildren living in rural communities and urban neighbourhoods in the Province of Esmeraldas, Ecuador. We detected geohelminths in stool samples, measured recent wheeze and environmental exposures by parental questionnaire, and atopy by specific IgE (sIgE) and skin prick test (SPT) reactivity to aeroallergens. RESULTS: Atopy, particularly sIgE to house dust mite (HDM), was more strongly associated with recent wheeze in urban than rural schoolchildren: (urban, adj. OR 5.19, 95% CI 3.37-8.00, P < 0.0001; rural, adj. OR 1.81, 95%CI 1.09-2.99, P = 0.02; interaction, P < 0.001). The population fractions of wheeze attributable to atopy were approximately two-fold greater in urban schoolchildren: SPT to any allergen (urban 23.5% vs. rural 10.1%), SPT to HDM (urban 18.5% vs. rural 9.6%), and anti-HDM IgE (urban 26.5% vs. rural 10.5%), while anti-Ascaris IgE was related to wheeze in a high proportion of rural (49.7%) and urban (35.4%) children. The association between atopy and recent wheeze was attenuated by markers of geohelminth infections. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that urban residence modifies the association between HDM atopy and recent wheeze, and this effect is explained partly by geohelminth infections
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