Quantum Cryptography in Practice

BBN, Harvard, and Boston University are building the DARPA Quantum Network, the world's first network that delivers end-to-end network security via high-speed Quantum Key Distribution, and testing that Network against sophisticated eavesdropping attacks. The first network link has been up and steadily operational in our laboratory since December 2002. It provides a Virtual Private Network between private enclaves, with user traffic protected by a weak-coherent implementation of quantum cryptography. This prototype is suitable for deployment in metro-size areas via standard telecom (dark) fiber. In this paper, we introduce quantum cryptography, discuss its relation to modern secure networks, and describe its unusual physical layer, its specialized quantum cryptographic protocol suite (quite interesting in its own right), and our extensions to IPsec to integrate it with quantum cryptography.Comment: Preprint of SIGCOMM 2003 pape

Alternative Models of Ante-Mortem Probate and Procedural Due Process Limitations on Succession

Ante-mortem probate stands as a significant recent development in the American law of wealth succession. It confronts a problem that seriously impairs our probate system, the depredatious will contest, and promises to help revitalize the probate process. Already enacted in several states and currently under active study by the Joint Editorial Board of the Uniform Probate Code and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, ante-mortem probate is likely to be widely implemented in some form. But while legislators and academics alike support ante-mortem probate as a general idea, disagreement has emerged over the specific form it should take. A recent exchange in the Michigan Law Review offered two alternative schemes for ante-mortem probate, both of which contemplate a procedural design materially different from that of the few existing ante-mortem probate statutes. That new design was termed the conservatorship model, contrasting with the more traditional contest model. The exchange reflected a disagreement over what the authors assumed to be an unavoidable trade-off between two objectives: protection against post-mortem strike suits, and confidentiality of a will\u27s contents during the testator\u27s lifetime. The exchange did not, however, explore the possibility of an ante-mortem probate scheme that would achieve both objectives. What made these objectives appear incompatible was the assumption that any version of ante-mortem probate that would preclude post-mortem attacks on the will must necessarily provide due process protective features, requiring notice to all expectant heirs and legatees under earlier wills and the opportunity for them to appear in the proceeding. In this Article, we shall challenge that assumption and propose a workable scheme of ante-mortem probate that both protects the testamentary plan against strike suits and preserves the confidentiality of the plan during the testator\u27s lifetime. Section I reviews the conservatorship model as developed by Professor Langbein and identifies its objectionable features. In Section II, we address the general constitutional question of what property interests command due process protection. This context poses the constitutional problem narrowly, but our analysis has broad implications regarding constitutional notice requirements for any probate reform. Concluding in that Section that due process does not compel notice and a right to appear for expectant heirs and legatees, we prepare in Section III an administrative design for a no-notice version of ante-mortem probate. Our discussion anticipates prudential objections to the model, offering a possible exception to the no-notice provisions to favor the nuclear family, an exception we ultimately reject

Alternative Models of Ante-Mortem Probate and Procedural Due Process Limitations on Succession

Ante-mortem probate stands as a significant recent development in the American law of wealth succession. It confronts a problem that seriously impairs our probate system, the depredatious will contest, and promises to help revitalize the probate process. Already enacted in several states and currently under active study by the Joint Editorial Board of the Uniform Probate Code and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, ante-mortem probate is likely to be widely implemented in some form. But while legislators and academics alike support ante-mortem probate as a general idea, disagreement has emerged over the specific form it should take. A recent exchange in the Michigan Law Review offered two alternative schemes for ante-mortem probate, both of which contemplate a procedural design materially different from that of the few existing ante-mortem probate statutes. That new design was termed the conservatorship model, contrasting with the more traditional contest model. The exchange reflected a disagreement over what the authors assumed to be an unavoidable trade-off between two objectives: protection against post-mortem strike suits, and confidentiality of a will\u27s contents during the testator\u27s lifetime. The exchange did not, however, explore the possibility of an ante-mortem probate scheme that would achieve both objectives. What made these objectives appear incompatible was the assumption that any version of ante-mortem probate that would preclude post-mortem attacks on the will must necessarily provide due process protective features, requiring notice to all expectant heirs and legatees under earlier wills and the opportunity for them to appear in the proceeding. In this Article, we shall challenge that assumption and propose a workable scheme of ante-mortem probate that both protects the testamentary plan against strike suits and preserves the confidentiality of the plan during the testator\u27s lifetime. Section I reviews the conservatorship model as developed by Professor Langbein and identifies its objectionable features. In Section II, we address the general constitutional question of what property interests command due process protection. This context poses the constitutional problem narrowly, but our analysis has broad implications regarding constitutional notice requirements for any probate reform. Concluding in that Section that due process does not compel notice and a right to appear for expectant heirs and legatees, we prepare in Section III an administrative design for a no-notice version of ante-mortem probate. Our discussion anticipates prudential objections to the model, offering a possible exception to the no-notice provisions to favor the nuclear family, an exception we ultimately reject

Alternative Models of Ante-Mortem Probate and Procedural Due Process Limitations on Succession

In this Article, we shall challenge that assumption and propose a workable scheme of ante-mortem probate that both protects the testamentary plan against strike suits and preserves the confidentiality of the plan during the testator\u27s lifetime. Section I reviews the conservatorship model as developed by Professor Langbein and identifies its objectionable features. In Section II, we address the general constitutional question of what property interests command due process protection. This context poses the constitutional problem narrowly, but our analysis has broad implications regarding constitutional notice requirements for any probate reform. Concluding in that Section that due process does not compel notice and a right to appear for expectant heirs and legatees, we prepare in Section III an administrative design for a no-notice version of ante-mortem probate. Our discussion anticipates prudential objections to the model, offering a possible exception to the no-notice provisions to favor the nuclear family, an exception we ultimately reject

A longitudinal test of impulsivity and depression pathways to early binge eating onset

OBJECTIVE: The very early engagement in bulimic behaviors, such as binge eating, may be influenced by factors that dispose individuals to impulsive action as well as by factors that dispose individuals to depressive symptomatology. Using a longitudinal design, we conducted the first test of the simultaneous operation of both risk factors as children transition from elementary to middle school. METHOD: In a sample of 1,906 children, we assessed risk for impulsive action (negative urgency, which is the tendency to act rashly when distressed, and eating expectancies, which are learned anticipations that eating will alleviate negative mood) and risk for depression (negative affect and depressive symptomatology) and binge eating behavior at three time points using a longitudinal design: the end of fifth grade (last year of elementary school: T0), the beginning of sixth grade (first year of middle school: T1), and the end of sixth grade (T2). RESULTS: Both the impulsive action and depression pathways predicted very early engagement in binge eating: each accounted for variance beyond the other. Mediation tests found that T1 eating expectancies mediated the predictive influence of T0 negative urgency on T2 binge eating (z = 2.45, p < .01) and that T1 depressive symptoms mediated the influence of T0 negative affect on T2 binge eating (z = 2.04, p < .05). DISCUSSION: In children, elevated levels of both negative urgency and negative affect predict early binge eating. This finding has important clinical implications because there are different interventions for the two different risk processes

Design of Shallow Wells for Drainage by Pumping, Lewiston Area, Utah

After approximately 25 years of using open drains in the Lewiston Area, Utah, the water table has not changed appreciably from what it was in 1921 when Hart and Adams (4) conducted their drainage investigations. It is still only about three feet below the ground surface. This is not effective drainage, meeting neither of the two primary drainage requirements of an arid or semi-arid agricultural region, namely; preventing an accumulation of excessive water within the depth of soil required for optimum growth of plant root systems, and maintaining the water table at a depth below the ground surface greater than the maximum height capillary water can rise, carrying any harmful salts that may be present in solution

Tubular carbonate concretions as hydrocarbon migration pathways? Examples from North Island, New Zealand

Cold seep carbonate deposits are associated with the development on the sea floor of distinctive chemosyn¬thetic animal communities and carbonate minerali¬sation as a consequence of microbially mediated anaerobic oxidation of methane. Several possible sources of the methane exist, identifiable from the carbon isotope values of the carbonate precipitates. In the modern, seep carbonates can occur on the sea floor above petroleum reservoirs where an important origin can be from ascending thermogenic hydrocar¬bons. The character of geological structures marking the ascent pathways from deep in the subsurface to shallow subsurface levels are poorly understood, but one such structure resulting from focused fluid flow may be tubular carbonate concretions. Several mudrock-dominated Cenozoic (especially Miocene) sedimentary formations in the North Island of New Zealand include carbonate concretions having a wide range of tubular morphologies. The concretions are typically oriented at high angles to bedding, and often have a central conduit that is either empty or filled with late stage cements. Stable isotope analyses (δ13C, δ18O) suggest that the carbonate cements in the concretions precipitated mainly from ascending methane, likely sourced from a mixture of deep thermogenic and shallow biogenic sources. A clear link between the tubular concretions and overlying paleo-sea floor seep-carbonate deposits exists at some sites. We suggest that the tubular carbonate concretions mark the subsurface plumbing network of cold seep systems. When exposed and accessible in outcrop, they afford an opportunity to investigate the geochemical evolution of cold seeps, and possibly also the nature of linkages between subsurface and surface portions of such a system. Seep field development has implications for the characterisation of fluid flow in sedimentary basins, for the global carbon cycle, for exerting a biogeochemical influence on the development of marine communities, and for the evaluation of future hydrocarbon resources, recovery, and drilling and production hazards. These matters remain to be fully assessed within a petroleum systems framework for New Zealand’s Cenozoic sedimentary basins

XO-2b: a hot Jupiter with a variable host star that potentially affects its measured transit depth

The transiting hot Jupiter XO-2b is an ideal target for multi-object photometry and spectroscopy as it has a relatively bright ($V$-mag = 11.25) K0V host star (XO-2N) and a large planet-to-star contrast ratio (R$_{p}$/R$_{s}\approx0.015$). It also has a nearby (31.21") binary stellar companion (XO-2S) of nearly the same brightness ($V$-mag = 11.20) and spectral type (G9V), allowing for the characterization and removal of shared systematic errors (e.g., airmass brightness variations). We have therefore conducted a multiyear (2012--2015) study of XO-2b with the University of Arizona's 61" (1.55~m) Kuiper Telescope and Mont4k CCD in the Bessel U and Harris B photometric passbands to measure its Rayleigh scattering slope to place upper limits on the pressure-dependent radius at, e.g., 10~bar. Such measurements are needed to constrain its derived molecular abundances from primary transit observations. We have also been monitoring XO-2N since the 2013--2014 winter season with Tennessee State University's Celestron-14 (0.36~m) automated imaging telescope to investigate stellar variability, which could affect XO-2b's transit depth. Our observations indicate that XO-2N is variable, potentially due to {cool star} spots, {with a peak-to-peak amplitude of $0.0049 \pm 0.0007$~R-mag and a period of $29.89 \pm 0.16$~days for the 2013--2014 observing season and a peak-to-peak amplitude of $0.0035 \pm 0.0007$~R-mag and $27.34 \pm 0.21$~day period for the 2014--2015 observing season. Because of} the likely influence of XO-2N's variability on the derivation of XO-2b's transit depth, we cannot bin multiple nights of data to decrease our uncertainties, preventing us from constraining its gas abundances. This study demonstrates that long-term monitoring programs of exoplanet host stars are crucial for understanding host star variability.Comment: published in ApJ, 9 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables; updated figures with more ground-based monitoring, added more citations to previous work

Extrinsic Curvature Dependence of Nielsen-Olesen Strings

It is shown how to treat the degrees of freedom of Nielsen-Olesen vortices in the $3+1$-dimensional $U(1)$ higgs model by a collective coordinate method. In the london limit, where the higgs mass becomes infinite, the gauge and goldstone degrees of freedom are integrated out, resulting in the vortex world-sheet action. Introducing an ultraviolet cut-off mimics the effect of finite higgs mass. This action is non-polynomial in derivatives and depends on the extrinsic curvature of the surface. Flat surfaces are stable if the coherence length is less than the penetration depth. It is argued that in the quantum abelian higgs model, vortex world-sheets are dominated by branched polymers.Comment: 12 pages, latex, CCNY-HEP-94-3 Some points in the text are clarified and new references are include