667 research outputs found
Quantifying Privacy: A Novel Entropy-Based Measure of Disclosure Risk
It is well recognised that data mining and statistical analysis pose a
serious treat to privacy. This is true for financial, medical, criminal and
marketing research. Numerous techniques have been proposed to protect privacy,
including restriction and data modification. Recently proposed privacy models
such as differential privacy and k-anonymity received a lot of attention and
for the latter there are now several improvements of the original scheme, each
removing some security shortcomings of the previous one. However, the challenge
lies in evaluating and comparing privacy provided by various techniques. In
this paper we propose a novel entropy based security measure that can be
applied to any generalisation, restriction or data modification technique. We
use our measure to empirically evaluate and compare a few popular methods,
namely query restriction, sampling and noise addition.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure
Minimizing Acquisition Maximizing Inference -- A demonstration on print error detection
Is it possible to detect a feature in an image without ever looking at it?
Images are known to have sparser representation in Wavelets and other similar
transforms. Compressed Sensing is a technique which proposes simultaneous
acquisition and compression of any signal by taking very few random linear
measurements (M). The quality of reconstruction directly relates with M, which
should be above a certain threshold for a reliable recovery. Since these
measurements can non-adaptively reconstruct the signal to a faithful extent
using purely analytical methods like Basis Pursuit, Matching Pursuit, Iterative
thresholding, etc., we can be assured that these compressed samples contain
enough information about any relevant macro-level feature contained in the
(image) signal. Thus if we choose to deliberately acquire an even lower number
of measurements - in order to thwart the possibility of a comprehensible
reconstruction, but high enough to infer whether a relevant feature exists in
an image - we can achieve accurate image classification while preserving its
privacy. Through the print error detection problem, it is demonstrated that
such a novel system can be implemented in practise
An exceptionally bright flare from SGR1806-20 and the origins of short-duration gamma-ray bursts
Soft-gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) are galactic X-ray stars that emit numerous
short-duration (about 0.1 s) bursts of hard X-rays during sporadic active
periods. They are thought to be magnetars: strongly magnetized neutron stars
with emissions powered by the dissipation of magnetic energy. Here we report
the detection of a long (380 s) giant flare from SGR 1806-20, which was much
more luminous than any previous transient event observed in our Galaxy. (In the
first 0.2 s, the flare released as much energy as the Sun radiates in a quarter
of a million years.) Its power can be explained by a catastrophic instability
involving global crust failure and magnetic reconnection on a magnetar, with
possible large-scale untwisting of magnetic field lines outside the star. From
a great distance this event would appear to be a short-duration, hard-spectrum
cosmic gamma-ray burst. At least a significant fraction of the mysterious
short-duration gamma-ray bursts therefore may come from extragalactic
magnetars.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures. Published in Natur
Maxwell-Chern-Simons Vortices and Holographic Superconductors
We investigate probe limit vortex solutions of a charged scalar field in
Einstein-Maxwell theory in 3+1 dimensions, for an asymptotically AdS
Schwarzschild black hole metric with the addition of an axionic coupling to the
Maxwell field. We show that the inclusion of such a term, together with a
suitable potential for the axion field, can induce an effective Chern-Simons
term on the 2+1 dimensional boundary. We obtain numerical solutions of the
equations of motion and find Maxwell-Chern-Simons like magnetic vortex
configurations, where the magnetic field profile varies with the size of the
effective Chern-Simons coupling. The axion field has a non-trivial profile
inside the AdS bulk but does not condense at spatial infinity.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, version accepted for publication in JHE
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Anonymisation of geographical distance matrices via Lipschitz embedding
BACKGROUND: Anonymisation of spatially referenced data has received increasing attention in recent years. Whereas the research focus has been on the anonymisation of point locations, the disclosure risk arising from the publishing of inter-point distances and corresponding anonymisation methods have not been studied systematically.
METHODS: We propose a new anonymisation method for the release of geographical distances between records of a microdata file-for example patients in a medical database. We discuss a data release scheme in which microdata without coordinates and an additional distance matrix between the corresponding rows of the microdata set are released. In contrast to most other approaches this method preserves small distances better than larger distances. The distances are modified by a variant of Lipschitz embedding.
RESULTS: The effects of the embedding parameters on the risk of data disclosure are evaluated by linkage experiments using simulated data. The results indicate small disclosure risks for appropriate embedding parameters.
CONCLUSION: The proposed method is useful if published distance information might be misused for the re-identification of records. The method can be used for publishing scientific-use-files and as an additional tool for record-linkage studies
Developing a digital intervention for cancer survivors: an evidence-, theory- and person-based approach
This paper illustrates a rigorous approach to developing digital interventions using an evidence-, theory- and person-based approach. Intervention planning included a rapid scoping review which identified cancer survivors’ needs, including barriers and facilitators to intervention success. Review evidence (N=49 papers) informed the intervention’s Guiding Principles, theory-based behavioural analysis and logic model. The intervention was optimised based on feedback on a prototype intervention through interviews (N=96) with cancer survivors and focus groups with NHS staff and cancer charity workers (N=31). Interviews with cancer survivors highlighted barriers to engagement, such as concerns about physical activity worsening fatigue. Focus groups highlighted concerns about support appointment length and how to support distressed participants. Feedback informed intervention modifications, to maximise acceptability, feasibility and likelihood of behaviour change. Our systematic method for understanding user views enabled us to anticipate and address important barriers to engagement. This methodology may be useful to others developing digital interventions
Constraints on Nucleon Decay via "Invisible" Modes from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
Data from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory have been used to constrain the
lifetime for nucleon decay to ``invisible'' modes, such as n -> 3 nu. The
analysis was based on a search for gamma-rays from the de-excitation of the
residual nucleus that would result from the disappearance of either a proton or
neutron from O16. A limit of tau_inv > 2 x 10^{29} years is obtained at 90%
confidence for either neutron or proton decay modes. This is about an order of
magnitude more stringent than previous constraints on invisible proton decay
modes and 400 times more stringent than similar neutron modes.Comment: Update includes missing efficiency factor (limits change by factor of
2) Submitted to Physical Review Letter
Strongly magnetized pulsars: explosive events and evolution
Well before the radio discovery of pulsars offered the first observational
confirmation for their existence (Hewish et al., 1968), it had been suggested
that neutron stars might be endowed with very strong magnetic fields of
-G (Hoyle et al., 1964; Pacini, 1967). It is because of their
magnetic fields that these otherwise small ed inert, cooling dead stars emit
radio pulses and shine in various part of the electromagnetic spectrum. But the
presence of a strong magnetic field has more subtle and sometimes dramatic
consequences: In the last decades of observations indeed, evidence mounted that
it is likely the magnetic field that makes of an isolated neutron star what it
is among the different observational manifestations in which they come. The
contribution of the magnetic field to the energy budget of the neutron star can
be comparable or even exceed the available kinetic energy. The most magnetised
neutron stars in particular, the magnetars, exhibit an amazing assortment of
explosive events, underlining the importance of their magnetic field in their
lives. In this chapter we review the recent observational and theoretical
achievements, which not only confirmed the importance of the magnetic field in
the evolution of neutron stars, but also provide a promising unification scheme
for the different observational manifestations in which they appear. We focus
on the role of their magnetic field as an energy source behind their persistent
emission, but also its critical role in explosive events.Comment: Review commissioned for publication in the White Book of
"NewCompStar" European COST Action MP1304, 43 pages, 8 figure
First Neutrino Observations from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
The first neutrino observations from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are
presented from preliminary analyses. Based on energy, direction and location,
the data in the region of interest appear to be dominated by 8B solar
neutrinos, detected by the charged current reaction on deuterium and elastic
scattering from electrons, with very little background. Measurements of
radioactive backgrounds indicate that the measurement of all active neutrino
types via the neutral current reaction on deuterium will be possible with small
systematic uncertainties. Quantitative results for the fluxes observed with
these reactions will be provided when further calibrations have been completed.Comment: Latex, 7 pages, 10 figures, Invited paper at Neutrino 2000
Conference, Sudbury, Canada, June 16-21, 2000 to be published in the
Proceeding
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