Bounds for low-energy spectral properties of center-of-mass conserving positive two-body interactions

We study the low-energy spectral properties of positive center-of-mass conserving two-body Hamiltonians as they arise in models of fractional quantum Hall states. Starting from the observation that positive many-body Hamiltonians must have ground-state energies that increase monotonously in particle number, we explore what general additional constraints can be obtained for two-body interactions with "center-of-mass conservation" symmetry, both in the presence and absence of particle-hole symmetry. We find general bounds that constrain the evolution of the ground-state energy with particle number, and in particular, constrain the chemical potential at $T=0$. Special attention is given to Hamiltonians with zero modes, in which case similar bounds on the first excited state are also obtained, using a duality property. In this case, in particular, an upper bound on the charge gap is also obtained. We further comment on center of mass and relative decomposition in disk geometry within the framework of second quantization.Comment: 8 pages, published versio

Patient privacy protection using anonymous access control techniques

Objective: The objective of this study is to develop a solution to preserve security and privacy in a healthcare environment where health-sensitive information will be accessed by many parties and stored in various distributed databases. The solution should maintain anonymous medical records and it should be able to link anonymous medical information in distributed databases into a single patient medical record with the patient identity. Methods: In this paper we present a protocol that can be used to authenticate and authorize patients to healthcare services without providing the patient identification. Healthcare service can identify the patient using separate temporary identities in each identification session and medical records are linked to these temporary identities. Temporary identities can be used to enable record linkage and reverse track real patient identity in critical medical situations. Results: The proposed protocol provides main security and privacy services such as user anonymity, message privacy, message confidentiality, user authentication, user authorization and message replay attacks. The medical environment validates the patient at the healthcare service as a real and registered patient for the medical services. Using the proposed protocol, the patient anonymous medical records at different healthcare services can be linked into one single report and it is possible to securely reverse track anonymous patient into the real identity. Conclusion: The protocol protects the patient privacy with a secure anonymous authentication to healthcare services and medical record registries according to the European and the UK legislations, where the patient real identity is not disclosed with the distributed patient medical records

Branding Practices on Four Dairies in Kantale, Sri Lanka.

Hot-iron branding is illegal in Sri Lanka, but is still commonly used to identify dairy herds in extensive farming systems, which are primarily located in the countrys Dry Zone. Despite the negative welfare implications of this practice, there is no written documentation of branding in this region. We observed branding on four smallholder farms in Kantale, Eastern Province to understand the welfare implications associated with the procedure and challenges limiting the uptake of more welfare-friendly alternatives, such as ear tagging. Areas of welfare concern included the duration of restraint, the size and location of the brand, and the absence of pain relief. Animals were restrained with rope for an average duration of 12 min (range 8⁻17 min). Farmers used multiple running irons to mark their initials and, in some cases, their address, with the largest brands extending across the ribs and hip. Three farmers applied coconut or neem oil topically to the brand after performing the procedure. No analgesics were given before or after branding. Farmers reported that poor ear tag retention in extensive systems and theft were the main factors impeding the uptake of alternative forms of identification. Branding is also practiced as part of traditional medicine in some cases. Given the clear evidence that hot-iron branding impairs animal welfare and there is no evidence that this can be improved, alternative identification methods are needed, both in Sri Lanka, as well as in other countries engaging in this practice

Evaluation of the Impact of Packet Drops due to AQM over Capacity Limited Paths

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