8,300 research outputs found
GOTCHA Password Hackers!
We introduce GOTCHAs (Generating panOptic Turing Tests to Tell Computers and
Humans Apart) as a way of preventing automated offline dictionary attacks
against user selected passwords. A GOTCHA is a randomized puzzle generation
protocol, which involves interaction between a computer and a human.
Informally, a GOTCHA should satisfy two key properties: (1) The puzzles are
easy for the human to solve. (2) The puzzles are hard for a computer to solve
even if it has the random bits used by the computer to generate the final
puzzle --- unlike a CAPTCHA. Our main theorem demonstrates that GOTCHAs can be
used to mitigate the threat of offline dictionary attacks against passwords by
ensuring that a password cracker must receive constant feedback from a human
being while mounting an attack. Finally, we provide a candidate construction of
GOTCHAs based on Inkblot images. Our construction relies on the usability
assumption that users can recognize the phrases that they originally used to
describe each Inkblot image --- a much weaker usability assumption than
previous password systems based on Inkblots which required users to recall
their phrase exactly. We conduct a user study to evaluate the usability of our
GOTCHA construction. We also generate a GOTCHA challenge where we encourage
artificial intelligence and security researchers to try to crack several
passwords protected with our scheme.Comment: 2013 ACM Workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Security (AISec
Adjustment of the Elderly in Retirement Homes in Eastern South Dakota
In South Dakota, particularly, growing numbers of older citizens give cause for increasing concern with their problems. While the total population of South Dakota declined by 5.8% between 1930 and 1950, during the same period the number of persons 65 years old and older increased by 49.8%.3 By 1958, 10.1% of the state\u27s total population was 65 years old and older, compared with the national figure of 8.8%. A consideration of the preceding discussion makes understandable the increasing interest in life in the later years. This increased interest has stimulated research, concerned not only with problems like medical care, housing, and finances, but concerned also with more subtle problems involving the maintenance of the older person as an integrated, well-functioning personality
Measurement of the electron electric dipole moment using YbF molecules
The most sensitive measurements of the electron electric dipole moment d_e
have previously been made using heavy atoms. Heavy polar molecules offer a
greater sensitivity to d_e because the interaction energy to be measured is
typically 10^3 times larger than in a heavy atom. We report the first
measurement of this kind, for which we have used the molecule YbF. Together,
the large interaction energy and the strong tensor polarizability of the
molecule make our experiment essentially free of the systematic errors that
currently limit d_e measurements in atoms. Our first result d_e = (- 0.2 \pm
3.2) x 10^-26 e.cm is less sensitive than the best atom measurement, but is
limited only by counting statistics and demonstrates the power of the method.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. v2. Minor corrections and clarifications made in
response to referee comment
Single-nucleotide polymorphisms: analysis by mass spectrometry
Matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry has evolved as a powerful method for analyzing nucleic acids. Here we provide protocols for genotyping single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) by MALDI based on PCR and primer extension to generate allele-specific products. Furthermore, we present three different approaches for sample preparation of primer-extension products before MALDI analysis and discuss their potential areas of application. The first approach, the 'GOOD' assay, is a purification-free procedure that uses DNA-modification chemistry, including alkylation of phosphorothioate linkages in the extension primers. The other two approaches use either solid-phase extraction or microarray purification for the purification of primer-extension products. Depending on the reaction steps of the various approaches, the protocols take about 6–8 hours
Enhancement of the electric dipole moment of the electron in the YbF molecule
We calculate an effective electric field on the unpaired electron in the YbF
molecule. This field determines sensitivity of the molecular experiment to the
electric dipole moment of the electron. We use experimental value of the
spin-doubling constant to estimate the admixture of the configuration with the
hole in the 4f-shell of Ytterbium to the ground state of the molecule. This
admixture reduces the field by 7%. Our value for the effictive field is 5.1
a.u. = 2.5 10^{10} V/cm.Comment: 5 pages, LATEX, uses revtex.st
The ideal gas as an urn model: derivation of the entropy formula
The approach of an ideal gas to equilibrium is simulated through a
generalization of the Ehrenfest ball-and-box model. In the present model, the
interior of each box is discretized, {\it i.e.}, balls/particles live in cells
whose occupation can be either multiple or single. Moreover, particles
occasionally undergo random, but elastic, collisions between each other and
against the container walls. I show, both analitically and numerically, that
the number and energy of particles in a given box eventually evolve to an
equilibrium distribution which, depending on cell occupations, is binomial
or hypergeometric in the particle number and beta-like in the energy.
Furthermore, the long-run probability density of particle velocities is
Maxwellian, whereas the Boltzmann entropy exactly reproduces the
ideal-gas entropy. Besides its own interest, this exercise is also relevant for
pedagogical purposes since it provides, although in a simple case, an explicit
probabilistic foundation for the ergodic hypothesis and for the maximum-entropy
principle of thermodynamics. For this reason, its discussion can profitably be
included in a graduate course on statistical mechanics.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure
Hamiltonian formulation of nonlinear travelling Whistler waves
International audienceA Hamiltonian formulation of nonlinear, parallel propagating, travelling whistler waves is developed. The complete system of equations reduces to two coupled differential equations for the transverse electron speed and a phase variable representing the difference in the phases of the transverse complex velocities of the protons and the electrons. Two integrals of the equations are obtained. The Hamiltonian integral H, is used to classify the trajectories in the phase plane, where and w=u2 are the canonical coordinates. Periodic, oscilliton solitary wave and compacton solutions are obtained, depending on the value of the Hamiltonian integral H and the Alfvén Mach number M of the travelling wave. The second integral of the equations of motion gives the position x in the travelling wave frame as an elliptic integral. The dependence of the spatial period, L, of the compacton and periodic solutions on the Hamiltonian integral H and the Alfvén Mach number M is given in terms of complete elliptic integrals of the first and second kind. A solitary wave solution, with an embedded rotational discontinuity is obtained in which the transverse Reynolds stresses of the electrons are balanced by equal and opposite transverse stresses due to the protons. The individual electron and proton phase variables and are determined in terms of and . An alternative Hamiltonian formulation in which is the new independent variable replacing x is used to write the travelling wave solutions parametrically in terms of
Ground states of Heisenberg evolution operator in discrete three-dimensional space-time and quantum discrete BKP equations
In this paper we consider three-dimensional quantum q-oscillator field theory
without spectral parameters. We construct an essentially big set of eigenstates
of evolution with unity eigenvalue of discrete time evolution operator. All
these eigenstates belong to a subspace of total Hilbert space where an action
of evolution operator can be identified with quantized discrete BKP equations
(synonym Miwa equations). The key ingredients of our construction are specific
eigenstates of a single three-dimensional R-matrix. These eigenstates are
boundary states for hidden three-dimensional structures of U_q(B_n^1) and
U_q(D_n^1)$.Comment: 13 page
Three-Nucleon Force and the -Mechanism for Pion Production and Pion Absorption
The description of the three-nucleon system in terms of nucleon and
degrees of freedom is extended to allow for explicit pion production
(absorption) from single dynamic de-excitation (excitation) processes.
This mechanism yields an energy dependent effective three-body hamiltonean. The
Faddeev equations for the trinucleon bound state are solved with a force model
that has already been tested in the two-nucleon system above pion-production
threshold. The binding energy and other bound state properties are calculated.
The contribution to the effective three-nucleon force arising from the pionic
degrees of freedom is evaluated. The validity of previous coupled-channel
calculations with explicit but stable isobar components in the
wavefunction is studied.Comment: 23 pages in Revtex 3.0, 9 figures (not included, available as
postscript files upon request), CEBAF-TH-93-0
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