2,546 research outputs found
Efficient computation of hashes
The sequential computation of hashes at the core of many distributed storage systems and found, for example, in grid services can hinder efficiency in service quality and even pose security challenges that can only be addressed by the use of parallel hash tree modes. The main contributions of this paper are, first, the identification of several efficiency and security challenges posed by the use of sequential hash computation based on the Merkle-Damgard engine. In addition, alternatives for the parallel computation of hash trees are discussed, and a prototype for a new parallel implementation of the Keccak function, the SHA-3 winner, is introduced
How alternative food networks work in a metropolitan area? An analysis of Solidarity Purchase Groups in Northern Italy
Our paper focuses on Solidarity Purchase Group (SPG) participants located in a highly urbanized area, with the aim to investigate the main motivations underlining their participation in a SPG and provide a characterization of them. To this end, we carried out a survey of 795 participants involved in 125 SPGs in the metropolitan area of Milan (Italy). Taking advantage of a questionnaire with 39 questions, we run a factor analysis and a two-step cluster analysis to identify different profiles of SPG participants. Our results show that the system of values animating metropolitan SPG practitioners does not fully conform to that traditionally attributed to an alternative food network (AFN). In fact, considerations linked to food safety and healthiness prevail on altruistic motives such as environmental sustainability and solidarity toward small producers. Furthermore, metropolitan SPGs do not consider particularly desirable periurban and local food products. Observing the SPGs from this perspective, it emerges as such initiatives can flourish also in those places where the lack of connection with the surrounding territory is counterbalanced by the high motivation to buy products from trusted suppliers who are able to guarantee genuine and safe products, not necessarily located nearby
Revisiting Shared Data Protection Against Key Exposure
This paper puts a new light on secure data storage inside distributed
systems. Specifically, it revisits computational secret sharing in a situation
where the encryption key is exposed to an attacker. It comes with several
contributions: First, it defines a security model for encryption schemes, where
we ask for additional resilience against exposure of the encryption key.
Precisely we ask for (1) indistinguishability of plaintexts under full
ciphertext knowledge, (2) indistinguishability for an adversary who learns: the
encryption key, plus all but one share of the ciphertext. (2) relaxes the
"all-or-nothing" property to a more realistic setting, where the ciphertext is
transformed into a number of shares, such that the adversary can't access one
of them. (1) asks that, unless the user's key is disclosed, noone else than the
user can retrieve information about the plaintext. Second, it introduces a new
computationally secure encryption-then-sharing scheme, that protects the data
in the previously defined attacker model. It consists in data encryption
followed by a linear transformation of the ciphertext, then its fragmentation
into shares, along with secret sharing of the randomness used for encryption.
The computational overhead in addition to data encryption is reduced by half
with respect to state of the art. Third, it provides for the first time
cryptographic proofs in this context of key exposure. It emphasizes that the
security of our scheme relies only on a simple cryptanalysis resilience
assumption for blockciphers in public key mode: indistinguishability from
random, of the sequence of diferentials of a random value. Fourth, it provides
an alternative scheme relying on the more theoretical random permutation model.
It consists in encrypting with sponge functions in duplex mode then, as before,
secret-sharing the randomness
Carrier-carrier entanglement and transport resonances in semiconductor quantum dots
We study theoretically the entanglement created in a scattering between an
electron, incoming from a source lead, and another electron bound in the ground
state of a quantum dot, connected to two leads. We analyze the role played by
the different kinds of resonances in the transmission spectra and by the number
of scattering channels, into the amount of quantum correlations between the two
identical carriers. It is shown that the entanglement between their energy
states is not sensitive to the presence of Breit-Wigner resonances, while it
presents a peculiar behavior in correspondence of Fano peaks: two close maxima
separated by a minimum, for a two-channel scattering, a single maximum for a
multi-channel scattering. Such a behavior is ascribed to the different
mechanisms characterizing the two types of resonances. Our results suggest that
the production and detection of entanglement in quantum dot structures may be
controlled by the manipulation of Fano resonances through external fields.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, RevTex4 two-column format, submitte
Frequency selective reflection and transmission at a layer composed of a periodic dielectric
The feasibility of using a periodic dielectric layer, composed of alternating bars having dielectric constants epsilon sub 1 and epsilon sub 2, as a frequency selective subreflector in order to permit feed separation in large aperture reflecting antenna systems was examined. For oblique incidence, it is found that total transmission and total reflection can be obtained at different frequencies for proper choices of epsilon sub 1, epsilon 2, and the geometric parameters. The frequencies of total reflection and transmission can be estimated from wave phenomena occurring in a layer of uniform dielectric constant equal to the average for the periodic layers. About some of the frequencies of total transmission, the bandwidth for 90% transmission is found to be 40%. However, the bandwidth for 90% reflection is always found to be much narrower; the greatest value found being 2.5%
Reduced electron relaxation rate in multi-electron quantum dots
We use a configuration-interaction approach and Fermi golden rule to
investigate electron-phonon interaction in realistic multi-electron quantum
dots. Lifetimes are computed in the low-density, highly correlated regime. We
report numerical evidence that electron-electron interaction generally leads to
reduced decay rates of excited electronic states in weakly confined quantum
dots, where carrier relaxation is dominated by the interaction with
longitudinal acoustic phonons.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Entanglement dynamics of electron-electron scattering in low-dimensional semiconductor systems
We perform the quantitative evaluation of the entanglement dynamics in
scattering events between two insistinguishable electrons interacting via
Coulomb potential in 1D and 2D semiconductor nanostructures. We apply a
criterion based on the von Neumann entropy and the Schmidt decomposition of the
global state vector suitable for systems of identical particles. From the
timedependent numerical solution of the two-particle wavefunction of the
scattering carriers we compute their entanglement evolution for different spin
configurations: two electrons with the same spin, with different spin, singlet,
and triplet spin state. The procedure allows to evaluate the mechanisms that
govern entanglement creation and their connection with the characteristic
physical parameters and initial conditions of the system. The cases in which
the evolution of entanglement is similar to the one obtained for
distinguishable particles are discussed.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Physical Review
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