ethp2psim: Evaluating and deploying privacy-enhanced peer-to-peer routing protocols for the Ethereum network

Network-level privacy is the Achilles heel of financial privacy in cryptocurrencies. Financial privacy amounts to achieving and maintaining blockchain- and network-level privacy. Blockchain-level privacy recently received substantial attention. Specifically, several privacy-enhancing technologies were proposed and deployed to enhance blockchain-level privacy. On the other hand, network-level privacy, i.e., privacy on the peer-to-peer layer, has seen far less attention and development. In this work, we aim to provide a peer-to-peer network simulator, ethp2psim, that allows researchers to evaluate the privacy guarantees of privacy-enhanced broadcast and message routing algorithms. Our goal is two-fold. First, we want to enable researchers to implement their proposed protocols in our modular simulator framework. Second, our simulator allows researchers to evaluate the privacy guarantees of privacy-enhanced routing algorithms. Finally, ethp2psim can help choose the right protocol parameters for efficient, robust, and private deployment

Determining the 7Li(n,gamma) cross section via Coulomb dissociation of 8Li

The applicability of Coulomb dissociation reactions to determine the cross section for the inverse neutron capture reaction was explored using the reaction 8Li(gamma,n)7Li. A 69.5 MeV/nucleon 8Li beam was incident on a Pb target, and the outgoing neutron and 7Li nucleus were measured in coincidence. The deduced (n,gamma) excitation function is consistent with data for the direct capture reaction 7Li(n,gamma)8Li and with low-energy effective field theory calculations.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Serum glutamine and hospital-acquired infections after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage

OBJECTIVE: To understand nutritional and inflammatory factors contributing to serum glutamine levels and their relationship to hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). METHODS: A prospective observational study of patients with SAH who had measurements of daily caloric intake and C-reactive protein, transthyretin, tumor necrosis factor α receptor 1a (TNFαR1a), glutamine, and nitrogen balance performed within 4 preset time periods during the 14 days after SAH. Factors associated with glutamine levels and HAIs were analyzed with multivariable regression. HAIs were tracked daily for time-to-event analyses. Outcome 3 months after SAH was assessed by the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status and modified Rankin Scale. RESULTS: There were 77 patients with an average age of 55 ± 15 years. HAIs developed in 18 (23%) on mean SAH day 8 ± 3. In a multivariable linear regression model, negative nitrogen balance ( CONCLUSIONS: Declining glutamine levels in the first 14 days after SAH are influenced by inflammation and associated with an increased risk of HAI

Geology of the historical Bodrogköz

Abstract The Bodrogköz is predominantly a flat area surrounded by the rivers Tisza, Bodrog and Latorica. The Hungarian-Slovakian border cuts it into two parts; consequently, the geologic data in the two countries are different in terms of scale and in approach. The authors harmonized the different data on the two sides and created a unified geologic database for the entire area. The Bodrogköz is part of the depression at the northeastern part of the Great Hungarian Plain. It is covered mostly by Quaternary formations but in the Slovakian part there are smaller outcrops of Permian formations and Miocene volcanics

MixEth: efficient, trustless coin mixing service for Ethereum

Coin mixing is a prevalent privacy-enhancing technology for cryptocurrency users. In this paper, we present MixEth, which is a trustless coin mixing service for Turing-complete blockchains. MixEth does not rely on a trusted setup and is more efficient than any proposed trustless coin tumbler. It requires only 3 on-chain transactions at most per user and 1 off-chain message. It achieves strong notions of anonymity and is able to resist denial-of-service attacks. Furthermore the underlying protocol can also be used to efficiently shuffle ballots, ciphertexts in a trustless and decentralized manner

Amygdala subnuclei response and connectivity during emotional processing

The involvement of the human amygdala in emotion-related processing has been studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for many years. However, despite the amygdala being comprised of several subnuclei, most studies investigated the role of the entire amygdala in processing of emotions. Here we combined a novel anatomical tracing protocol with event-related high-resolution fMRI acquisition to study the responsiveness of the amygdala subnuclei to negative emotional stimuli and to examine intra-amygdala functional connectivity. The greatest sensitivity to the negative emotional stimuli was observed in the centromedial amygdala, where the hemodynamic response amplitude elicited by the negative emotional stimuli was greater and peaked later than for neutral stimuli. Connectivity patterns converge with extant findings in animals, such that the centromedial amygdala was more connected with the nuclei of the basal amygdala than with the lateral amygdala. Current findings provide evidence of functional specialization within the human amygdala

Space-time coupling of shaped ultrafast ultraviolet pulses from an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter

A comprehensive experimental analysis of spatio-temporal coupling effects inherent to the acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF) is presented. Phase and amplitude measurements of the AOPDF transfer function are performed using spatially and spectrally resolved interferometry. Spatio-temporal and spatio-spectral coupling effects are presented for a range of shaped pulses that are commonly used in quantum control experiments. These effects are shown to be attributable to a single mechanism: a group-delay--dependent displacement of the shaped pulse. The physical mechanism is explained and excellent quantitative agreement between the measured and calculated coupling speed is obtained. The implications for quantum control experiments are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication within JOSA