Tight Bounds for Asymptotic and Approximate Consensus

We study the performance of asymptotic and approximate consensus algorithms under harsh environmental conditions. The asymptotic consensus problem requires a set of agents to repeatedly set their outputs such that the outputs converge to a common value within the convex hull of initial values. This problem, and the related approximate consensus problem, are fundamental building blocks in distributed systems where exact consensus among agents is not required or possible, e.g., man-made distributed control systems, and have applications in the analysis of natural distributed systems, such as flocking and opinion dynamics. We prove tight lower bounds on the contraction rates of asymptotic consensus algorithms in dynamic networks, from which we deduce bounds on the time complexity of approximate consensus algorithms. In particular, the obtained bounds show optimality of asymptotic and approximate consensus algorithms presented in [Charron-Bost et al., ICALP'16] for certain dynamic networks, including the weakest dynamic network model in which asymptotic and approximate consensus are solvable. As a corollary we also obtain asymptotically tight bounds for asymptotic consensus in the classical asynchronous model with crashes. Central to our lower bound proofs is an extended notion of valency, the set of reachable limits of an asymptotic consensus algorithm starting from a given configuration. We further relate topological properties of valencies to the solvability of exact consensus, shedding some light on the relation of these three fundamental problems in dynamic networks

Security-Efficiency Tradeoffs in Searchable Encryption -- Lower Bounds and Optimal Constructions

Besides their security, the efficiency of searchable encryption schemes is a major criteria when it comes to their adoption: in order to replace an unencrypted database by a more secure construction, it must scale to the systems which rely on it. Unfortunately, the relationship between the efficiency and the security of searchable encryption has not been widely studied, and the minimum cost of some crucial security properties is still unclear. In this paper, we present new lower bounds on the tradeoffs between the size of the client state, the efficiency and the security for searchable encryption schemes. These lower bounds target two kinds of schemes: schemes hiding the repetition of search queries, and forward-private dynamic schemes, for which updates are oblivious. We also show that these lower bounds are tight, by either constructing schemes matching them, or by showing that even a small increase in the amount of leaked information allows for constructing schemes breaking the lower bounds

Experimental study of reinforced soil bunds subjected to horizontal impact

14th International Congress of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, FOZ DO IGUACU, BRESIL, 13-/09/2019 - 18/09/2019Rockfall phenomenon is a common event in mountainous areas and presents a serious risk to the nearby buildings or infrastructure. Different protection measures may be taken depending on the site conditions. A reinforced soil bund can be effective in stopping blocks with relatively high speed and kinetic energy. This article presents the response of three reinforced soil bunds subjected to horizontal impacts. The tests are dimensioned in a reduced scale with a factor of 1/3 by following specific similarity rules and assumptions. A rectangular shape with ratio height/width equal to 2 is chosen aiming to have a lower footprint than the dominating trapezoidal shape of existing soil bunds. In order to find the most efficient design, different reinforcement patterns are installed in each bund. The failure mechanisms and the role of the reinforcements are observed with several instrumentations

Verifiable Dynamic Symmetric Searchable Encryption: Optimality and Forward Security

Symmetric Searchable Encryption (SSE) is a very efficient and practical way for data owners to out- source storage of a database to a server while providing privacy guarantees. Such SSE schemes enable clients to encrypt their database while still performing queries for retrieving documents matching some keyword. This functionality is interesting to secure cloud storage, and efficient schemes have been de- signed in the past. However, security against malicious servers has been overlooked in most previous constructions and these only addressed security against honest-but-curious servers. In this paper, we study and design the first efficient SSE schemes provably secure against mali- cious servers. First, we give lower bounds on the complexity of such verifiable SSE schemes. Then, we construct generic solutions matching these bounds using efficient verifiable data structures. Finally, we modify an existing SSE scheme that also provides forward secrecy of search queries, and make it prov- ably secure against active adversaries, without increasing the computational complexity of the original scheme

Comportement de l'interface barre - scellement d'un ancrage passif scellé au rocher : étude numérique

La compréhension du comportement des ancrages passifs scellés au rocher nécessite de définir celui de l'interface barre-scellement. Sollicitée en cisaillement, différents mécanismes de rupture interviennent suivant les conditions de confinement. Or les modèles issus des études expérimentales se limitent à un comportement tangentiel sans considérer l'influence de paramètres comme l'épaisseur de scellement ou la rigidité de la roche. Cette étude présente une approche numérique pour étudier le comportement tangentiel de l'interface barre-scellement en tenant compte du comportement radial. Pour cela, des essais d'arrachement sur de faibles longueurs de barres scellées ont été reproduits numériquement. Une attention particulière a été portée à la définition du comportement du matériau de scellement afin de reproduire les différents mécanismes de rupture possibles. Pour décrire le comportement en traction, ainsi que celui en compression, l'effet d'échelle a été pris en compte. La confrontation entre les résultats numériques et expérimentaux permet de valider ce modèle numérique. Ce dernier va être utilisé pour effectuer une étude paramétrique du comportement tangentiel de l'interface en faisant varier les conditions de confinement

SSE and SSD: Page-Efficient Searchable Symmetric Encryption

International audienceSearchable Symmetric Encryption (SSE) enables a client to outsource a database to an untrusted server, while retaining the ability to securely search the data. The performance bottleneck of classic SSE schemes typically does not come from their fast, symmetric cryptographic operations, but rather from the cost of memory accesses. To address this issue, many works in the literature have considered the notion of locality, a simple design criterion that helps capture the cost of memory accesses in traditional storage media, such as Hard Disk Drives. A common thread among many SSE schemes aiming to improve locality is that they are built on top of new memory allocation schemes, which form the technical core of the constructions. The starting observation of this work is that for newer storage media such as Solid State Drives (SSDs), which have become increasingly common, locality is not a good predictor of practical performance. Instead, SSD performance mainly depends on page efficiency, that is, reading as few pages as possible. We define this notion, and identify a simple memory allocation problem, Data-Independent Packing (DIP), that captures the main technical challenge required to build page-efficient SSE. As our main result, we build a page-efficient and storage-efficient data-independent packing scheme, and deduce the Tethys SSE scheme, the first SSE scheme to achieve at once O(1) page efficiency and O(1) storage efficiency. The technical core of the result is a new generalization of cuckoo hashing to items of variable size. Practical experiments show that this new approach achieves excellent performance

Tuberculosis alters immune-metabolic pathways resulting in perturbed IL-1 responses

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health problem and we lack a comprehensive understanding of how Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) infection impacts host immune responses. We compared the induced immune response to TB antigen, BCG and IL-1β stimulation between latently M. tb infected individuals (LTBI) and active TB patients. This revealed distinct responses between TB/LTBI at transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic levels. At baseline, we identified a novel immune-metabolic association between pregnane steroids, the PPARγ pathway and elevated plasma IL-1ra in TB. We observed dysregulated IL-1 responses after BCG stimulation in TB patients, with elevated IL-1ra responses being explained by upstream TNF differences. Additionally, distinct secretion of IL-1α/IL-1β in LTBI/TB after BCG stimulation was associated with downstream differences in granzyme mediated cleavage. Finally, IL-1β driven signalling was dramatically perturbed in TB disease but was completely restored after successful treatment. This study improves our knowledge of how immune responses are altered during TB disease, and may support the design of improved preventive and therapeutic tools, including host-directed strategies

Amélioration de la détermination des propriétés de résistance de l'interface béton-rocher et des discontinuités des fondations rocheuses des barrages poids

CIGB 2018, 26è Congrès des Grands Barrages, Vienne, AUTRICHE, 01-/07/2018 - 07/07/2018La détermination des caractéristiques mécaniques régissant la stabilité d'un barrage existant peut s'avérer complexe notamment en ce qui concerne les discontinuités présentes en fondation et à l'interface barrage-fondation. Ces caractéristiques sont la résistance à la traction, la cohésion et l'angle de frottement. Fort de ce constat, IRSTEA et EDF ont lancé des travaux de recherche ces dernières années de manière d'une part à créer des données utiles à la compréhension des mécanismes de rupture et d'autre part à proposer des méthodologies d'estimation des caractéristiques mécaniques utilisables directement par l'ingénierie. Le présent article donne les principaux résultats des essais de traction et de cisaillement sur des interfaces béton-rocher. Ces résultats pourraient faire l'objet d'échange et de partage avec les ingénieries intéressées par le sujet. L'article présente également des méthodologies de détermination des caractéristiques de discontinuités rocheuses en cisaillement ainsi que des caractéristiques de résistance à la traction de l'interface béton-rocher. Des perspectives sont proposées quant à de futures actions de recherche prometteuses telles que la caractérisation de la cohésion apparente des discontinuités rocheuses et l'estimation de la géométrie du contact barrage-fondation par des méthodes non-destructives

Labraunda 2014

La saison 2014 à Labraunda (Fig. 1) a probablement été la plus intense depuis les grands travaux entrepris par l’équipe suédoise sous la direction d’Alfred Westholm en 1960. Grâce au soutien des très nombreuses institutions, publiques comme privées, et de personnalités physiques, nous avons pu réunir sur le terrain une équipe internationale de 47 chercheurs et étudiants de onze nationalités différentes (d’Ouest en Est : États-Unis, Colombie, Royaume-Uni, France, Suède, Finlande, Slovaquie, Gr..

EHD2 is a mechanotransducer connecting caveolae dynamics with gene transcription

Caveolae are small invaginated pits that function as dynamic mechanosensors to buffer tension variations at the plasma membrane. Here we show that under mechanical stress, the EHD2 ATPase is rapidly released from caveolae, SUMOylated, and translocated to the nucleus, where it regulates the transcription of several genes including those coding for caveolae constituents. We also found that EHD2 is required to maintain the caveolae reservoir at the plasma membrane during the variations of membrane tension induced by mechanical stress. Metal-replica electron microscopy of breast cancer cells lacking EHD2 revealed a complete absence of caveolae and a lack of gene regulation under mechanical stress. Expressing EHD2 was sufficient to restore both functions in these cells. Our findings therefore define EHD2 as a central player in mechanotransduction connecting the disassembly of the caveolae reservoir with the regulation of gene transcription under mechanical stress