SAFIUS - A secure and accountable filesystem over untrusted storage

We describe SAFIUS, a secure accountable file system that resides over an untrusted storage. SAFIUS provides strong security guarantees like confidentiality, integrity, prevention from rollback attacks, and accountability. SAFIUS also enables read/write sharing of data and provides the standard UNIX-like interface for applications. To achieve accountability with good performance, it uses asynchronous signatures; to reduce the space required for storing these signatures, a novel signature pruning mechanism is used. SAFIUS has been implemented on a GNU/Linux based system modifying OpenGFS. Preliminary performance studies show that SAFIUS has a tolerable overhead for providing secure storage: while it has an overhead of about 50% of OpenGFS in data intensive workloads (due to the overhead of performing encryption/decryption in software), it is comparable (or better in some cases) to OpenGFS in metadata intensive workloads.Comment: 11pt, 12 pages, 16 figure

Active elastic dimers: self-propulsion and current reversal on a featureless track

We present a Brownian inchworm model of a self-propelled elastic dimer in the absence of an external potential. Nonequilibrium noise together with a stretch-dependent damping form the propulsion mechanism. Our model connects three key nonequilibrium features -- position-velocity correlations, a nonzero mean internal force, and a drift velocity. Our analytical results, including striking current reversals, compare very well with numerical simulations. The model unifies the propulsion mechanisms of DNA helicases, polar rods on a vibrated surface, crawling keratocytes and Myosin VI. We suggest experimental realizations and tests of the model.Comment: 4 page

Anti-correlated time lags in the Z source GX 5-1: Possible evidence for a truncated accretion disk

We investigate the nature of the inner accretion disk in the neutron star source GX 5-1 by making a detailed study of time lags between X-rays of different energies. Using the cross-correlation analysis, we found anti-correlated hard and soft time lags of the order of a few tens to a few hundred seconds and the corresponding intensity states were mostly the horizontal branch (HB) and upper normal branch (NB). The model independent and dependent spectral analysis showed that during these time lags the structure of accretion disk significantly varied. Both eastern and western approaches were used to unfold the X-ray continuum and systematic changes were observed in soft and hard spectral components. These changes along with a systematic shift in the frequency of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) made it substantially evident that the geometry of the accretion disk is truncated. Simultaneous energy spectral and power density spectral study shows that the production of the horizontal branch oscillations (HBOs) are closely related to the Comptonizing region rather than the disk component in the accretion disk. We found that as the HBO frequency decreases from the hard apex to upper HB, the disk temperature increases along with an increase in the coronal temperature which is in sharp contrast with the changes found in black hole binaries where the decrease in QPO frequency is accompanied by a decrease in the disk temperature and a simultaneous increase in the coronal temperature. We discuss the results in the context of re-condensation of coronal material in the inner region of the disk.Comment: 40 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement (ApJS

Flux enhancement in the inner region of a geometrically and optically thick accretion disk

The surface flux (and the corresponding observed flux) of a geometrically thick ``funnel'' shaped disk is computed taking into account the radiation impinging on the surface from other parts of the disk. It is found that the ratio of the maximum apparent luminosity to the real luminosity of the disk is only a factor $\approx 5$ even when the opening angle of the disk is small ($\approx 15^o$). Thus, geometrically beamed emission from ``funnel'' shaped sub-Eddington disks around stellar mass black holes, cannot explain the Ultra-Luminous X-ray sources detected in nearby galaxies.Comment: accepted for publication in Ap