Greater Expectations?

Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs) are key tools in the construction of lightweight authentication and key exchange protocols. So far, all existing PUF-based authentication protocols follow the same paradigm: A resource-constrained prover, holding a PUF, wants to authenticate to a resource-rich verifier, who has access to a database of pre-measured PUF challenge-response pairs (CRPs). In this paper we consider application scenarios where all previous PUF-based authentication schemes fail to work: The verifier is resource-constrained (and holds a PUF), while the prover is resource-rich (and holds a CRP-database). We construct the first and efficient PUF-based authentication protocol for this setting, which we call converse PUF-based authentication. We provide an extensive security analysis against passive adversaries, show that a minor modification also allows for authenticated key exchange and propose a concrete instantiation using controlled Arbiter PUFs

Photonuclear Reactions of Three-Nucleon Systems

We discuss the available data for the differential and the total cross section for the photodisintegration of $^3$He and $^3$H and the corresponding inverse reactions below $E_\gamma = 100$ MeV by comparing with our calculations using realistic $NN$ interactions. The theoretical results agree within the errorbars with the data for the total cross sections. Excellent agreement is achieved for the angular distribution in case of $^3$He, whereas for $^3$H a discrepancy between theory and experiment is found.Comment: 11 pages (twocolumn), 12 postscript figures included, uses psfig, RevTe

Lightweight and Secure PUF Key Storage Using Limits of Machine Learning

13th International Workshop, Nara, Japan, September 28 – October 1, 2011. ProceedingsA lightweight and secure key storage scheme using silicon Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) is described. To derive stable PUF bits from chip manufacturing variations, a lightweight error correction code (ECC) encoder / decoder is used. With a register count of 69, this codec core does not use any traditional error correction techniques and is 75% smaller than a previous provably secure implementation, and yet achieves robust environmental performance in 65nm FPGA and 0.13μ ASIC implementations. The security of the syndrome bits uses a new security argument that relies on what cannot be learned from a machine learning perspective. The number of Leaked Bits is determined for each Syndrome Word, reducible using Syndrome Distribution Shaping. The design is secure from a min-entropy standpoint against a machine-learning-equipped adversary that, given a ceiling of leaked bits, has a classification error bounded by ε. Numerical examples are given using latest machine learning results

The ACOS CO_2 retrieval algorithm – Part 1: Description and validation against synthetic observations

This work describes the NASA Atmospheric CO_2 Observations from Space (ACOS) X_(CO_2) retrieval algorithm, and its performance on highly realistic, simulated observations. These tests, restricted to observations over land, are used to evaluate retrieval errors in the face of realistic clouds and aerosols, polarized non-Lambertian surfaces, imperfect meteorology, and uncorrelated instrument noise. We find that post-retrieval filters are essential to eliminate the poorest retrievals, which arise primarily due to imperfect cloud screening. The remaining retrievals have RMS errors of approximately 1 ppm. Modeled instrument noise, based on the Greenhouse Gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) in-flight performance, accounts for less than half the total error in these retrievals. A small fraction of unfiltered clouds, particularly thin cirrus, lead to a small positive bias of ~0.3 ppm. Overall, systematic errors due to imperfect characterization of clouds and aerosols dominate the error budget, while errors due to other simplifying assumptions, in particular those related to the prior meteorological fields, appear small

A social role for churches and cultural demarcation:how German MEPs represent religion in the European Parliament

This study deals with the question of how German members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent the German model of religion–state relations at the European level. Based on a survey and interviews with German MEPs as well as a content-analysis of German MEPs’ speeches, motions and parliamentary questions during the seventh term of the European Parliament (EP), our study demonstrates that this model is represented in three dimensions. First, German MEPs reflect the close cooperation between the churches and the state in Germany, primarily on social issues, through largely church- and religion-friendly attitudes and relatively frequent contacts with religious interest-groups. Second, by referring to religious freedoms and minorities primarily outside the EU and by placing Islam in considerably more critical contexts than Christianity, German MEPs create a cultural demarcation line between Islam and Christianity through their parliamentary activities, which is similar to, though less politicised than, cultural boundaries often produced in public debates in Germany. Third, our study illustrates similar patterns of religious affiliation and subjective religiosity among German parliamentarians in both the EP and the national Parliament, which to some degree also reflect societal trends in Germany. Yet our data also suggest that European political elites are more religious than the average German population. If the presence of religion in terms of religious interest-groups and arguments is included, the EP appears to be more secularist than the German Parliament

Security of data science and data science for security

In this chapter, we present a brief overview of important topics regarding the connection of data science and security. In the first part, we focus on the security of data science and discuss a selection of security aspects that data scientists should consider to make their services and products more secure. In the second part about security for data science, we switch sides and present some applications where data science plays a critical role in pushing the state-of-the-art in securing information systems. This includes a detailed look at the potential and challenges of applying machine learning to the problem of detecting obfuscated JavaScripts

Emergence of qualia from brain activity or from an interaction of proto-consciousness with the brain: which one is the weirder? Available evidence and a research agenda

This contribution to the science of consciousness aims at comparing how two different theories can explain the emergence of different qualia experiences, meta-awareness, meta-cognition, the placebo effect, out-of-body experiences, cognitive therapy and meditation-induced brain changes, etc. The first theory postulates that qualia experiences derive from specific neural patterns, the second one, that qualia experiences derive from the interaction of a proto-consciousness with the brain\u2019s neural activity. From this comparison it will be possible to judge which one seems to better explain the different qualia experiences and to offer a more promising research agenda

Rate-Dependent Nucleation and Growth of NaO2 in Na-O2 Batteries

Understanding the oxygen reduction reaction kinetics in the presence of Na ions and the formation mechanism of discharge product(s) is key to enhancing Na–O2 battery performance. Here we show NaO2 as the only discharge product from Na–O2 cells with carbon nanotubes in 1,2-dimethoxyethane from X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Sodium peroxide dihydrate was not detected in the discharged electrode with up to 6000 ppm of H2O added to the electrolyte, but it was detected with ambient air exposure. In addition, we show that the sizes and distributions of NaO2 can be highly dependent on the discharge rate, and we discuss the formation mechanisms responsible for this rate dependence. Micron-sized (∼500 nm) and nanometer-scale (∼50 nm) cubes were found on the top and bottom of a carbon nanotube (CNT) carpet electrode and along CNT sidewalls at 10 mA/g, while only micron-scale cubes (∼2 μm) were found on the top and bottom of the CNT carpet at 1000 mA/g, respectively.Seventh Framework Programme (European Commission) (Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship, 2007-2013))National Science Foundation (U.S.) (MRSEC Program, award number DMR-0819762)Robert Bosch GmbH (Bosch Energy Research Network (BERN) Grant)China Clean Energy Research Center-Clean Vehicles Consortium (CERC-CVC) (award number DE-PI0000012)Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech-MIT Center for Electochemical Energy Storage

Planck 2015 results. XXVII. The second Planck catalogue of Sunyaev-Zeldovich sources

We present the all-sky Planck catalogue of Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) sources detected from the 29 month full-mission data. The catalogue (PSZ2) is the largest SZ-selected sample of galaxy clusters yet produced and the deepest systematic all-sky surveyof galaxy clusters. It contains 1653 detections, of which 1203 are confirmed clusters with identified counterparts in external data sets, and is the first SZ-selected cluster survey containing >103 confirmed clusters. We present a detailed analysis of the survey selection function in terms of its completeness and statistical reliability, placing a lower limit of 83% on the purity. Using simulations, we find that the estimates of the SZ strength parameter Y5R500are robust to pressure-profile variation and beam systematics, but accurate conversion to Y500 requires the use of prior information on the cluster extent. We describe the multi-wavelength search for counterparts in ancillary data, which makes use of radio, microwave, infra-red, optical, and X-ray data sets, and which places emphasis on the robustness of the counterpart match. We discuss the physical properties of the new sample and identify a population of low-redshift X-ray under-luminous clusters revealed by SZ selection. These objects appear in optical and SZ surveys with consistent properties for their mass, but are almost absent from ROSAT X-ray selected samples