Characterisation of the porous silicon layers

Porous silicon (PS) is obtained by anodic attack of single-crystal silicon in concentrated hydrofluoric acid solution. All the properties of the porous silicon layer, such as porosity, the thickness and the diameter of the pores depend in a critical way of the anodization parameters. This present work aims to study the evolution of the porous silicon various properties according to the anodization parameters. Also we are interested in the various experimental aspects intervening in manufacture and the characterization of the thin layers of porous silicon by gravimetry and ellipsometry.Porous silicon (PS) is obtained by anodic attack of single-crystal silicon in concentrated hydrofluoric acid solution. All the properties of the porous silicon layer, such as porosity, the thickness and the diameter of the pores depend in a critical way of the anodization parameters. This present work aims to study the evolution of the porous silicon various properties according to the anodization parameters. Also we are interested in the various experimental aspects intervening in manufacture and the characterization of the thin layers of porous silicon by gravimetry and ellipsometry

Malignité du christianisme. Le Jugement dernier de Michel-Ange dans l'Histoire de la Peinture en Italie de Stendhal

L\u27analyse stendhalienne des tableaux du quinzième siècle dissimule un violent pamphlet contre l\u27Eglise catholique, et propose une esthétique romantique concurrente de celle du Génie du christianisme de Chateaubriand

NectarCAM : a camera for the medium size telescopes of the Cherenkov Telescope Array

NectarCAM is a camera proposed for the medium-sized telescopes of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) covering the central energy range of ~100 GeV to ~30 TeV. It has a modular design and is based on the NECTAr chip, at the heart of which is a GHz sampling Switched Capacitor Array and a 12-bit Analog to Digital converter. The camera will be equipped with 265 7-photomultiplier modules, covering a field of view of 8 degrees. Each module includes the photomultiplier bases, high voltage supply, pre-amplifier, trigger, readout and Ethernet transceiver. The recorded events last between a few nanoseconds and tens of nanoseconds. The camera trigger will be flexible so as to minimize the read-out dead-time of the NECTAr chips. NectarCAM is designed to sustain a data rate of more than 4 kHz with less than 5\% dead time. The camera concept, the design and tests of the various subcomponents and results of thermal and electrical prototypes are presented. The design includes the mechanical structure, cooling of the electronics, read-out, clock distribution, slow control, data-acquisition, triggering, monitoring and services.Comment: In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands. All CTA contributions at arXiv:1508.0589

The Cherenkov Telescope Array Large Size Telescope

The two arrays of the Very High Energy gamma-ray observatory Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will include four Large Size Telescopes (LSTs) each with a 23 m diameter dish and 28 m focal distance. These telescopes will enable CTA to achieve a low-energy threshold of 20 GeV, which is critical for important studies in astrophysics, astroparticle physics and cosmology. This work presents the key specifications and performance of the current LST design in the light of the CTA scientific objectives.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, In Proceedings of the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2013), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). All CTA contributions at arXiv:1307.223

An Assessment of the Effectiveness of High Definition Cameras as Remote Monitoring Tools for Dolphin Ecology Studies.

Research involving marine mammals often requires costly field programs. This paper assessed whether the benefits of using cameras outweighs the implications of having personnel performing marine mammal detection in the field. The efficacy of video and still cameras to detect Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in the Fremantle Harbour (Western Australia) was evaluated, with consideration on how environmental conditions affect detectability. The cameras were set on a tower in the Fremantle Port channel and videos were perused at 1.75 times the normal speed. Images from the cameras were used to estimate position of dolphins at the water’s surface. Dolphin detections ranged from 5.6 m to 463.3 m for the video camera, and from 10.8 m to 347.8 m for the still camera. Detection range showed to be satisfactory when compared to distances at which dolphins would be detected by field observers. The relative effect of environmental conditions on detectability was considered by fitting a Generalised Estimation Equations (GEEs) model with Beaufort, level of glare and their interactions as predictors and a temporal auto-correlation structure. The best fit model indicated level of glare had an effect, with more intense periods of glare corresponding to lower occurrences of observed dolphins. However this effect was not large (-0.264) and the parameter estimate was associated with a large standard error (0.113).The limited field of view was the main restraint in that cameras can be only applied to detections of animals observed rather than counts of individuals. However, the use of cameras was effective for long term monitoring of occurrence of dolphins, outweighing the costs and reducing the health and safety risks to field personal. This study showed that cameras could be effectively implemented onshore for research such as studying changes in habitat use in response to development and construction activities

Anonymous Traitor Tracing: How to Embed Arbitrary Information in a Key

In a traitor tracing scheme, each user is given a different decryption key. A content distributor can encrypt digital content using a public encryption key and each user in the system can decrypt it using her decryption key. Even if a coalition of users combines their decryption keys and constructs some ``pirate decoder\u27\u27 that is capable of decrypting the content, there is a public tracing algorithm that is guaranteed to recover the identity of at least one of the users in the coalition given black-box access to such decoder. In prior solutions, the users are indexed by numbers $1,\ldots,N$ and the tracing algorithm recovers the index $i$ of a user in a coalition. Such solutions implicitly require the content distributor to keep a record that associates each index $i$ with the actual identifying information for the corresponding user (e.g., name, address, etc.) in order to ensure accountability. In this work, we construct traitor tracing schemes where all of the identifying information about the user can be embedded directly into the user\u27s key and recovered by the tracing algorithm. In particular, the content distributor does not need to separately store any records about the users of the system, and honest users can even remain anonymous to the content distributor. The main technical difficulty comes in designing tracing algorithms that can handle an exponentially large universe of possible identities, rather than just a polynomial set of indices $i \in [N]$. We solve this by abstracting out an interesting algorithmic problem that has surprising connections with seemingly unrelated areas in cryptography. We also extend our solution to a full ``broadcast-trace-and-revoke\u27\u27 scheme in which the traced users can subsequently be revoked from the system. Depending on parameters, some of our schemes can be based only on the existence of public-key encryption while others rely on indistinguishability obfuscation

A Concise Bounded Anonymous Broadcast Yielding Combinatorial Trace-and-Revoke Schemes

Broadcast Encryption is a fundamental primitive supporting sending a secure message to any chosen target set of $N$ users. While many efficient constructions are known, understanding the efficiency possible for an ``Anonymous Broadcast Encryption\u27\u27 (ANOBE), i.e., one which can hide the target set itself, is quite open. The best solutions by Barth, Boneh, and Waters (\u2706) and Libert, Paterson, and Quaglia (\u2712) are built on public key encryption (PKE) and their ciphertext sizes are, in fact, $N$ times that of the underlying PKE (rate=$N$). Kiayias and Samary (\u2712), in turn, showed a lower bound showing that such rate is the best possible if $N$ is an independent unbounded parameter. However, when considering certain user set size bounded by a system parameter (e.g., the security parameter), the problem remains interesting. We consider the problem of comparing ANOBE with PKE under the same assumption. We call such schemes Anonymous Broadcast Encryption for Bounded Universe -- AnoBEB. We first present an AnoBEB construction for up to $k$ users from LWE assumption, where $k$ is bounded by the scheme security parameter. The scheme does not grow with the parameter and beat the PKE method. Actually, our scheme is as efficient as the underlying LWE public-key encryption; namely, the rate is, in fact, $1$ and thus optimal. The scheme is achieved easily by an observation about an earlier scheme with a different purpose. More interestingly, we move on to employ the new AnoBEB in other multimedia broadcasting methods and, as a second contribution, we introduce a new approach to construct an efficient ``Trace and Revoke scheme\u27\u27 which combines the functionalites of revocation and of tracing people (called traitors) who in a broadcasting schemes share their keys with the adversary which, in turn, generates a pirate receiver. Note that, as was put forth by Kiayias and Yung (EUROCRYPT \u2702), combinatorial traitor tracing schemes can be constructed by combining a system for small universe, integrated via an outer traceability codes (collusion-secure code or identifying parent property (IPP) code). There were many efficient traitor tracing schemes from traceability codes, but no known scheme supports revocation as well. Our new approach integrates our AnoBEB system with a Robust IPP code, introduced by Barg and Kabatiansky (IEEE IT \u2713). This shows an interesting use for robust IPP in cryptography. The robust IPP codes were only implicitly shown by an existence proof. In order to make our technique concrete, we propose two explicit instantiations of robust IPP codes. Our final construction gives the most efficient trace and revoke scheme in the bounded collusion model

Utilization of mechanical power and associations with clinical outcomes in brain injured patients. a secondary analysis of the extubation strategies in neuro-intensive care unit patients and associations with outcome (ENIO) trial

BackgroundThere is insufficient evidence to guide ventilatory targets in acute brain injury (ABI). Recent studies have shown associations between mechanical power (MP) and mortality in critical care populations. We aimed to describe MP in ventilated patients with ABI, and evaluate associations between MP and clinical outcomes.MethodsIn this preplanned, secondary analysis of a prospective, multi-center, observational cohort study (ENIO, NCT03400904), we included adult patients with ABI (Glasgow Coma Scale <= 12 before intubation) who required mechanical ventilation (MV) >= 24 h. Using multivariable log binomial regressions, we separately assessed associations between MP on hospital day (HD)1, HD3, HD7 and clinical outcomes: hospital mortality, need for reintubation, tracheostomy placement, and development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).ResultsWe included 1217 patients (mean age 51.2 years [SD 18.1], 66% male, mean body mass index [BMI] 26.3 [SD 5.18]) hospitalized at 62 intensive care units in 18 countries. Hospital mortality was 11% (n = 139), 44% (n = 536) were extubated by HD7 of which 20% (107/536) required reintubation, 28% (n = 340) underwent tracheostomy placement, and 9% (n = 114) developed ARDS. The median MP on HD1, HD3, and HD7 was 11.9 J/min [IQR 9.2-15.1], 13 J/min [IQR 10-17], and 14 J/min [IQR 11-20], respectively. MP was overall higher in patients with ARDS, especially those with higher ARDS severity. After controlling for same-day pressure of arterial oxygen/fraction of inspired oxygen (P/F ratio), BMI, and neurological severity, MP at HD1, HD3, and HD7 was independently associated with hospital mortality, reintubation and tracheostomy placement. The adjusted relative risk (aRR) was greater at higher MP, and strongest for: mortality on HD1 (compared to the HD1 median MP 11.9 J/min, aRR at 17 J/min was 1.22, 95% CI 1.14-1.30) and HD3 (1.38, 95% CI 1.23-1.53), reintubation on HD1 (1.64; 95% CI 1.57-1.72), and tracheostomy on HD7 (1.53; 95%CI 1.18-1.99). MP was associated with the development of moderate-severe ARDS on HD1 (2.07; 95% CI 1.56-2.78) and HD3 (1.76; 95% CI 1.41-2.22).ConclusionsExposure to high MP during the first week of MV is associated with poor clinical outcomes in ABI, independent of P/F ratio and neurological severity. Potential benefits of optimizing ventilator settings to limit MP warrant further investigation