Secure access control for DAG-based distributed ledgers

Access control is a fundamental component of the design of distributed ledgers, influencing many aspects of their functionality, such as fairness, efficiency, traditional notions of network security, and adversarial attacks such as Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacksAttackers attempt to put stress on the network by sending a large amount of transactions to other nodes.. In this work, we consider the security of a recently proposed access control protocol for Directed Acyclic Graph-based distributed ledgers. We present a number of attack scenarios and potential vulnerabilities of the protocol and introduce a number of additional features which enhance its resilience. Specifically, a blacklisting algorithm, which is based on a reputation-weighted threshold, is introduced to handle both spamming and multi-rate malicious attackers. A solidification request component is also introduced to ensure the fairness and consistency of the network in the presence of attacks. Finally, a timestamp component is also introduced to maintain the consistency of the network in the presence of multi-rate attackers. Simulations to illustrate the efficacy and robustness of the revised protocol are also presented

The Princeton Variability Survey

The Princeton Variability Survey (PVS) is a robotic survey which makes use of readily available, ``off-the-shelf'' type hardware products, in conjunction with a powerful set of commercial software products, in order to monitor and discover variable objects in the night sky. The main goal of the PVS has been to devise an automated telescope and data reduction system, requiring only moderate technical and financial resources to assemble, which may be easily replicated by the dedicated amateur, a student group, or a professional and used to study and discover a variety of variable objects, such as stars. This paper describes the hardware and software components of the PVS device as well as observational results from the initial season of the PVS, including the discovery of a new bright variable star.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures. Revised to fix typos and expand discussion. Accepted PAS

Detonation of hydrogen-oxygen at low temperature and high pressure

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77397/1/AIAA-2246-726.pd

Schottky mass measurements of heavy neutron-rich nuclides in the element range 70\leZ \le79 at the ESR

Storage-ring mass spectrometry was applied to neutron-rich $^{197}$Au projectile fragments. Masses of $^{181,183}$Lu, $^{185,186}$Hf, $^{187,188}$Ta, $^{191}$W, and $^{192,193}$Re nuclei were measured for the first time. The uncertainty of previously known masses of $^{189,190}$W and $^{195}$Os nuclei was improved. Observed irregularities on the smooth two-neutron separation energies for Hf and W isotopes are linked to the collectivity phenomena in the corresponding nuclei.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 2 table

North Atlantic Intermediate to Deep Water circulation and chemical stratification during the past 1 Myr

Benthic foraminiferal carbon isotope records from a suite of drill sites in the North Atlantic are used to trace variations in the relative strengths of Lower North Atlantic Deep Water (LNADW), Upper North Atlantic Deep Water (UNADW), and Southern Ocean Water (SOW) over the past 1 Myr. During glacial intervals, significant increases in intermediate-to-deep δ13C gradients (commonly reaching >1.2‰) are consistent with changes in deep water circulation and associated chemical stratification. Bathymetric δ13C gradients covary with benthic foraminiferal δ18O and covary inversely with Vostok CO2, in agreement with chemical stratification as a driver of atmospheric CO2 changes. Three deep circulation indices based on δ13C show a phasing similar to North Atlantic sea surface temperatures, consistent with a Northern Hemisphere control of NADW/SOW variations. However, lags in the precession band indicate that factors other than deep water circulation control ice volume variations at least in this band

Dust attenuation in 2<z<3 star-forming galaxies from deep ALMA observations of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field

17 pages, 7 figures, accepted version to be published in MNRASWe present the results of a new study of the relationship between infrared excess (IRX ≡ L IR/L UV), ultraviolet (UV) spectral slope (β) and stellar mass at redshifts 2 < z < 3, based on a deep Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) 1.3-mm continuum mosaic of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Excluding the most heavily obscured sources, we use a stacking analysis to show that z ≃ 2.5 star-forming galaxies in the mass range 9.25 ≤ log(M*/M ⊙) ≤ 10.75 are fully consistent with the IRX-β relation expected for a relatively grey attenuation curve, similar to the commonly adopted Calzetti law. Based on a large, mass-complete sample of 2 ≤ z ≤ 3 star-forming galaxies drawn frommultiple surveys, we proceed to derive a new empirical relationship between β and stellar mass, making it possible to predict UV attenuation (A1600) and IRX as a function of stellar mass, for any assumed attenuation law. Once again, we find that z ≃ 2.5 star-forming galaxies follow A1600-M* and IRX-M* relations consistent with a relatively grey attenuation law, and find no compelling evidence that star-forming galaxies at this epoch follow a reddening law as steep as the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) extinction curve. In fact, we use a simple simulation to demonstrate that previous determinations of the IRX-β relation may have been biased towards low values of IRX at red values of β, mimicking the signature expected for an SMC-like dust law. We show that this provides a plausible mechanism for reconciling apparently contradictory results in the literature and that, based on typical measurement uncertainties, stellar mass provides a cleaner prediction of UV attenuation than β. Although the situation at lower stellar masses remains uncertain, we conclude that for 2 < z < 3 star-forming galaxies with log(M*/M ⊙) ≥ 9.75, both the IRX-β and IRX-M* relations are well described by a Calzetti-like attenuation law.Peer reviewe

Neutrino-Induced Giant Air Showers in Large Extra Dimension Models

In models based on large extra dimensions where massive spin 2 exchange can dominate at high energies, the neutrino-proton cross section can rise to typical hadronic values at energies above 10^20 eV. The neutrino then becomes a candidate for the primary that initiates the highest energy cosmic ray showers. We investigate characteristics of neutrino-induced showers compared to proton-induced showers. The comparison includes study of starting depth, profile with depth, lateral particle distribution at ground and muon lateral distribution at ground level. We find that for cross sections above 20 mb there are regions of parameter space where the two types of showers are essentially indistinguishable. We conclude that the neutrino candidate hypothesis cannot be ruled out on the basis of shower characteristics.Comment: 24 pages, latex, 19 figures; text discussion and references added, typos corrected; figures and conclusions unchange